Angels and crooks
by Nuredhel
Summary: Bard and Thran are getting used to their lives as married but they do still have their jobs and it makes things very interesting at times...AU story, sequel to Beast.
1. Wild horses

Chapter 1: Wild horses….

Rosalind was trying to drag the monster of a vacuum cleaner through the door, it was a bit too wide and had to be sort of twisted around so she could drag it in sideways. The carpet had to be vacuumed today, the boss and his missis were having a party later that evening and God help her if everything wasn't in perfect order by the time the first guests arrived. She was thanking the holy virgin that she wasn't the one in charge of the food, it would have been a challenge she wasn't able to handle at all. In this house everything had to be perfect, at all times. But that was a façade, she had seen through it from day one and she knew that the day her contract ended she would be out of there like a bat out of hell. She had worked for a lot of rich people before but none had been as obnoxious as Mr Masters.

Rosalind was a very professional person, a housekeeper who knew all the tricks and she was used to being treated with respect but Mrs Masters did regard her as some sort of slave and Rosalind was not going to be shocked if the bitch someday came there demanding that Rosalind and the other servants started referring to Mr Masters as "masta" No, it wouldn't shock her at all. She knew where all the wealth came from, and she hated their guts for nothing had come from hard honest work but from fraud and exploitation of others. There was no deed too foul if it could bring this family more money and the master of the house was acting like some general, laying deliberate plans for how they were to get even more money. They had a team of cut throat lawyers willing to do whatever Mr Masters said as long as they got paid a little extra under the table and it was just terrible business.

They had two kids and Rosalind did pity them, even if they were insufferable brats. The boy was just two years of age and really a cute kid but he was left to the nanny and the mother didn't really bother with him at all. The girl was eight and a real queen bee who was so spoiled it was hard to believe. She got everything she wanted, except from true love and care from her parents. It was tragic. Rosalind did drag the goddamn machine into the huge living room, the mansion had several and this was the "white" room. Here everything was kept in white and gold and it was beautiful but lacked a soul. Rosalind grunted, Mrs Masters had as usual referred to her as "Rosalynn" when she spoke to the housekeeper and Rosalind had stopped complaining, Mrs Masters was too unintelligent to understand. The woman was the poster child for trophy wives, pretty, dumb and willing to fuck anything as long as it gave her status and wealth.

The housekeeper did finish the carpet in the front area, there was a smaller room adjacent to the living room which was referred to as the "lounge" and she had to take care of the carpet there as well. It was Mr Masters favourite room and it was held in wood white and brown. It did stink of cigar smoke and whiskey and Rosalind did grimace. The carpet would be full of half smoked buds and god alone knew what else, it would be a mess to clean up. Mr Masters had been visited by some friends the day before and it had been a rather fierce party. She turned around to get the vacuum cleaner in between a coffee table and a monster of a couch and then she froze. She saw a pair of legs sticking out from the huge armchair Mr Masters always sat in, it was so big the man disappeared completely into it. Had he fallen asleep there, again?! She saw a glass of scotch on the table by the chair, he had probably started to "repair" from the day before. She bit her lower lip, he hated being interrupted but he couldn't sit there now, there were preparations to be done. "Mr Masters? It is Rosalind…"

She kept her voice low and respectful and hoped that it would lessen the wrath she was sure she would experience in few seconds. Mr Masters was always extremely cranky when he was hungover. There wasn't any sign of movement and she cleared her throat. "Mr Masters? Are you awake?"

She took one more step forwards, rounded the table and then she saw. She stared with wide eyes before she let out a scream which was heard all through the house. All she could think was that the Lord did know justice after all.

Bard was busy with some paperwork, they had just finished a very difficult case involving a bank worker who had embezzled money for years and it had been like trying to find your way out of a maze. The man had been extremely clever and had known how to cover up his tracks but at the end Elisa's hacker friend Erestor had managed to trace the money to an account in a bank located on Iceland of all places. The headquarters had been rebuilt after the whole Shrike incident and Thor was back in charge, things were back to normal but they still missed many of those who had died and they had all been changed, in some way or the other. Bard had to smile, he was newly wedded and more happy than ever before and now the future did look very bright. He had already noticed that he was getting better at seeing the truth, piercing through lies and digging his way into whatever was hidden underneath the veneer most people show the world. The same could be said for Thran and they did work so well together. They had spent a week in Hawaii just after the wedding and it had been a week he never would forget. He had to smile, a small and blissful smile before he returned to the screen. Paperwork was one thing they couldn't escape, no matter what sort of gifts they had been given.

He was busy trying to organize some files when his phone did buzz, it was a text from Judith and he frowned. It only said two things. "The morgue, now!"

It was odd, there hadn't been anyone mentioning any new murders now? He raised his head, Thor was working and didn't seem to be taking any calls and the entire station was very peaceful. It usually was now this early in the year, the cold meant that even the crooks stayed indoors. He got up and walked downstairs to the new morgue, it was larger and more modern than the old one and it wasn't even a wee bit more cosy. A morgue was a morgue, no matter what. Judith was standing by one of the tables and it was covered with a huge sheet and the shape was odd, what the hell? She saw him and grinned. "Hello. I was thinking of you, I bet you are bored out of your skull and this is the most bizarre thing I have seen in a very long time"

Bard tilted his head. "Bizarre?"

Judith nodded vigorously. "Yeah, you know, being a coroner means that you get to see everything, and I thought I had but nope, this job does still have some shocks left for me. It is truly one of a kind, an accident."

Bard got closer and Judith did pull the sheet off. The deceased was a middle aged Caucasian male with a slight case of obesity and a somewhat groomed appearance but what created the odd shape was his head. Or rather, the thing attached to his head. It was another head, the stuffed out head of a deer and the antlers were firmly buried in the dead man's skull. It looked as if the deer and the man was locked in a sort of staring competition. Bard had to gasp. "What in…."

Judith almost giggled. "Damn right, this unfortunate fellah was sitting in his favourite chair, sipping some good scotch when the screws holding that monstrosity decided to give way and boom, sixty pounds of deer head fell straight onto his head. I bet he shot that deer too, this could be some sort of post mortem pay back"

Bard had to grin. "Yes, that wouldn't surprise me."

Judith threw the blanket back over the body. "Now, let us give this poor animal some dignity back, I just hate trophy hunting"

Bard knew this, Judith loved animals and he did too. "Yes, so who was he, the man I mean, not the poor deer?"

Judith made a grand gesture. "This is the not so honourable Mr Duke Masters, officially a real estate agent but in reality he is among the worst scumbags I have ever come across. He is making a living out of suing the shit out of people, and he has no scruples whatsoever."

Bard had to frown. "And you are sure it was an accident? It couldn't have been foul play? Who found him by the way?"

Judith was picking up some tools, staring at them with narrow eyes. "Their housekeeper did find him, tough woman for she wasn't all that shocked. The wife however lost it, completely hysterical. I think she must have seen all her status fly out of the door there and then."

Bard had to snicker. "Alright, but it was an accident?"

Judith nodded. "I see no signs of it being anything else no, at least not yet. Murder by stuffed deer, that would indeed be a first."

Bard stared at the covered body. "Any kids?"

Judith found a pair of bolt cutters. "Two, a two year old boy and an eight year old girl, I saw her when we picked up the body, spoiled piece of shit if you ask me"

She lifted the cutters. "I am so tempted at breaking the skull to remove the antlers, it would be a darn shame to cut something so beautiful."

Bard had to laugh. "Oh I bet you will come up with some trick, at least the stag did get its vengeance"

Judith did send him a very wry grin. "Yes, and I will have the unfortunate pleasure of cutting this carcass open, with that body I am sure I will find clogged arteries and god alone what else."

Bard grinned. "Right, have fun then."

Judith started a power saw, her face the very incarnation of bloodthirst. "Will do!"

Bard walked back upstairs and to his delight he did see that Thran had arrived, the profiler had been visiting the local jail to make an interview and he did look a bit tense. Bard walked over and gave his spouse a swift hug. "You look like shit dear, come, I have just seen the most absurd thing ever!"

Thran smiled and hung his coat on the rack by Bard's desk, he was always dressed to impress and the tall blonde did normally make just about anyone swoon. "Good, I have just tried to understand the mind of a person who is so scrambled up mentally I don't even know where to start. Damn it, the guy is both schizophrenic and a bipolar and I bet he is a psychopath on top of it all. "

Bard made Thran sit down, he wanted to kiss him but knew that Thor disapproved of such displays of passion while they were working. There were people visiting the station all the time and some didn't approve of same sex relationships at all. "Listen, Judith just showed me a dead guy, with a stuffed deer head stuck to his skull. It had fallen off the wall and the antlers had pierced his head."

Thran had to gape. "Seriously? Now that is Karma for you, if he was the shooter that is"

Bard chuckled. "Bet he was, a piece of work as Judith puts it, real scumbag"

Thran snickered. "Ah, poetic justice in action, always a wonder to behold"

Bard swallowed hard, there was something else which also was a wonder to behold, damnation, still five hours before their shift ended. Thran got up with a sigh. "Right, I have to make a report, have no clue of what I am going to write though. The judge wants a real diagnosis and if I am to write everything down it will be a list as long as a bad year"

Bard shrugged. "Stark raving lunatic, that ought to do it"

Thran had to laugh, a full warm laughter which made Bard feel all fuzzy inside. "And I bet the judge would appreciate such an assessment, the jury would be all over it. No, I need something real, something impressive."

Bard grinned widely. "Come up with something, call it "Mc Clusky's syndrome", or bilateral Triassic brain contortion"

Thran had to gape, then he laughed even louder. "Oh that was precious, yes, the last one ought to impress them, unless there is a geologist or palaeontologist among them!"

Thran gave him a swift hug and walked over to his office and Bard chuckled and dove into the world of economic fraud once more. He was working for about an hour when Thor suddenly appeared in the doorway. "Bard? Sorry to interrupt, but we have gotten ourselves a murder. I want you and Thran on it"

Bard got up. "A murder, now?"

Thor nodded. "I got a call from Judith, the antlered dude, it wasn't an accident, unless dead deer have started to fire off nine mm bullets."

Bard frowned. "What?"

Thor nodded slowly. "You heard me, the dead dude, there was a bullet wound in his head and the antlers were jabbed into it, probably to cover it up. If Judith hadn't decided to do an x ray of the head she would never have discovered it"

Bard swallowed. "Right, so, where do we start?"

Thor sighed and he did look tired. "Listen, this guy had more enemies than Hitler, so the list of possible suspects is longer than the passenger list of Titanic. But I have made a smaller list here, people he has sued for great amounts of money, and gotten sued back with no result. I bet there could be someone among them who feels bitter enough to try to avenge themselves this way."

Bard was handed over a list and the names didn't tell him anything. "So, he did sue people, and made a living out of it. What sort of cases are we talking about?"

Thor got a hard expression on his face. "The very worst, he has been targeting small businesses, those who cannot afford good lawyers, and still have some money he can take. Here, this name"

He pointed at a name at the bottom of the list. It said "Mrs Eleanor Bloom, florist" and Bard frowned. "A florist, who the heck sues a florist?"

Thor did look intense. "Someone who is a predator, with no conscience at all. Mrs Masters did visit the shop to buy some roses and on the way out she "slipped" on the doorstep and injured her ankle. They sued the poor woman for a million and she lost, had to close down the business."

Bard felt a surge of anger. "Oh my Lord, then Mr Masters was a real piece of shit. So, who should we talk to first?"

Thor pointed at another name near the top. "This couple here, they live just two hours out of the city and the rest on the list are placed all over the place. They never targeted people in the same state twice, so you see, they were good at this shit"

Bard knew that if their names had showed up in the files of the state attorney more than once alarm bells would have gone off, it was infernal and smart. "Green meadow farms?"

Thor nodded. "Yes, horse breeders, if you go now you will be back by the evening"

Bard felt a sting of excitement. He didn't care that much about horses but Thran did and he was an expert too. He would love this. He ran over to Thran's office and his husband was suddenly very eager when he heard of the case and where they were heading. Before long they were in Thran's car and on their way southwest. It did in fact feel good to be out of the city, even if it was for just some hours.

The drive did take some time, the roads were good but there was work being done in two places and the traffic did seep by slowly as a snail. The weather was rather dark when they reached the farm, it was a very nice place with several stables and paddocks and it did look very well maintained. They parked and left the car, there was a sort of office there and they headed that way, the place did smell of horse and they saw several very nice specimens in the paddocks. Bard had checked the papers, the owners were Mr and Mrs Holt and they had to be somewhere in their sixties. The office was empty, the door was locked and Bard scratched his head, it didn't seem as if the owners were at home for the main building was dark too and there weren't any cars in the garage. Thran made a grimace. "I hope we haven't come all this way for nothing?"

Bard was about to say something apologetic sounding when they heard a voice. "Hello? Are you looking for the boss?"

A woman was peeking out of a stable door and Bard saw that she was wearing overalls and a cap. She did look like a stable worker and she seemed to be the type of a person who isn't afraid of getting her hands dirty. "Ah, yes, they aren't at home?"

The woman shook her head and closed the door, walked over with the relaxed ease of a person who is well used to physical work. She was of medium height and her body stocky with obvious strength and the face was round and a bit red and she seemed like a genuinely friendly person. "No, they went upstate earlier today, a horse show. You haven't made an appointment?"

Bard shook his head. "No, I am sorry ma'am, we haven't."

He held up his badge and the woman frowned. "The police?! What is this about?"

Bard cleared his throat. "A certain Mr Masters who I believe that Mr and Mrs Holt did come to blows with last year?"

The woman gaped, then her face turned into a mask of hopeful joy. "Oh damn it, don't tell me he is dead?!"

Bard nodded. "Uh, yes, he is dead?"

She jumped up and down, laughing. "Oh wonderful, what a day! I will celebrate for sure. I do hope the son of a bitch suffered?"

Thran stared at the woman, he did look shocked. "You don't appear to be shocked?"

The woman shook her head, some locks of long auburn hair did escape from the cap. "That is because I am not, was he murdered?"

Bard had to nod and she let out a small squeal of joy. "Praised be every God there is, finally! I want to shake the hand of the murderer, that person has done mankind a huge favour"

Thran had to swallow hard. "Ah, ma'am, you are aware of how this makes you look? This is a murder investigation"

She laughed. "Oh I understand, don't worry. I didn't kill the bastard but by every deity, I wish I did."

Thran frowned. "I think you'd better explain this, first of all, who are you?"

The woman smiled, she was very charming when she smiled, and her green eyes were sparkling. "I am Nerdanel Wood, I have worked here as the stable manager for the Holts for thirty years."

Bard shivered a little, it was cold there and she saw and waved her hand. "You are freezing, follow me, we can talk in my office, it is warm"

She walked ahead and they had to follow, they rounded a stable and entered a door and the office was rather large with a lot of tall closets and a table and some chairs. There were pictures of horses and prizes everywhere. She sat down and grasped some cups, a coffee machine was bubbling loudly in a corner. "Want some coffee? I have only two types, black and blacker"

Thran had to grin. "Black is fine with me"

Bard nodded. "Me too"

She poured and gave them a generous dose each and took a huge cup herself. There was a sort of screen in the corner and Bard leaned over and looked at it. It was a feed from a box and a horse was wandering around in it, in obvious distress. Nerdanel nodded at the screen. "Our birthing box, that mare is going to give birth anytime now, I was checking in on her when you arrived. I cannot leave here until it is over with. Princess is a very valuable mare and the foal will be even more valuable, last foal to be born fathered by old Infernal."

Thran did look puzzled. "Infernal?"

Nerdanel nodded and sipped her coffee. "Yes, Infernal mystery, one of the best studs there has ever been, he died two years ago and Princess was inseminated with the last dose of semen from that stallion. The foal better be good or we will be very disappointed"

Bard knew a little about horse breeding because of Jean and his late wife Sophia, he knew how valuable a foal like that could be. "So, the fact that you hate Mr Masters?"

Nerdanel lifted a leg and put it over the other one. "Oh yes, that!"

She leaned forwards. "When that bastard did sue Mr and Mrs Holt he ruined their livelihood, in the horse society your reputation means everything! Nobody wants to deal with someone who has tried to trick someone with a sale."

Thran tried not to cringe, the coffee was warm but way too old, he guessed that it had been re-heated several times. "So a sale was at the bottom of this conflict?"

She nodded and leaned into the chair. "Listen, this dude did this trick of his many times, there are scores of people dying to strangle him to death with their own hands. I have done some investigation myself and he used every method in the book and then some. He was all over the place, and used many names too. Mr and Mrs Holt are such nice people, they couldn't harm a fly! But that creep did break their hearts and caused them to lose so much money there was a chance of them losing the ranch for a while. They had to sell some of their very best brood mares to make it."

Thran tilted his head. "We have understood that Mr Masters was a very cunning fraud artist yes"

She scoffed. "Yes, and so much more, try psychopath. An abuser of animals, of people's trust and of the law. Those lawyers of his are more vicious than a swarm of piranhas."

Bard was getting curious. "So, what did he really do here? Why did he sue Mr and Mrs Holt? And why are you so angry at him?"

Nerdanel crossed her arms over her chest, she was a formidable woman, the arms were muscular and Bard bet that neither of them would have been able to subdue her. Someone used to handle a ton of horse is not someone you should pick a fight with. "I am angry because he did spread doubt about my skills and integrity as well, and I do not accept it when someone makes me look like a goddamn liar."

She pulled out a drawer and picked out a photo, handed it over to Thran. "See, this is what the whole debacle is about"

Thran stared at the photo, showed it to Bard. It was a horse, a very beautiful filly who stared into the camera with huge trustful eyes. "That is a beauty"

She cocked her head. "You know horses Mr?"

Thran smiled. "Oropherson, Yes, I do own a few"

She smiled widely. "Great, then you can understand this. That is Velvet Peach, the best filly this farm has ever produced."

Thran stared at the photo again, the filly was a gorgeous palomino and the confirmation and shape of the horse was perfection made flesh and bone. "She is gorgeous"

Nerdanel sighed. "Yes, she was perfection. "

Thran frowned. "Was?"

She nodded slowly. "It is a terrible story really, but Mr and Mrs Holt loved that filly. She was going to be a champion show horse for sure, and they waited until she was three before they put her out for sale. We do sell horses, that is how we make a living but they didn't really want to sell her, she was precious to them"

Bard leaned forwards. "Mr Masters bought her?"

Nerdanel had a very sarcastic grin on her face. "Yes, there was another couple here too bidding for her but they were probably there just to push the prize up. "

Bard did feel a bit confused. "Press the prize up?"

She nodded. "That is the core of the whole damn thing you see, she was untried, a three years old quarter horse filly. Even with her perfect pedigree and looks you couldn't ask for all that much"

Thran sighed "I think I see the picture"

Nerdanel nodded "Any horse lover will yes. They said they wanted a horse for their daughter, she was like six at the time? Way too young for a full size horse and absolutely not one who had just been through basic training but they did want Velvet and offered so much money for her that Mr and Mrs Holt gave in. "

Thran was a bit tense around his mouth. "They were fooled then?"

Nerdanel nodded solemnly. "Indeed they were. The Masters took Velvet and we didn't hear anything more for five months, then we received a call from a lawyer, telling us that we were being sued for having sold a useless horse"

Bard swallowed hard. "Useless?"

Nerdanel nodded. "Blind Mr Bowman, but it was a huge fat lie."

Thran was making notes. "Explain please"

Nerdanel made a gesture. "You see, they wanted Velvet for a specific reason, we do have other horses here way better suited for their kid and horses who were more expensive too, but Velvet's grandsire was a stallion who was the carrier of a rare genetic disorder. Some of his offspring and grandchildren have been born with it"

Thran was frowning. "They claimed that Velvet had the disease?"

Nerdanel nodded and her eyes were dark, anger seething in them. "Yes, you see, the disease can be held at bay using medication, he claimed that we had medicated Velvet so the disease was invisible when they bought her."

Bard started to understand her anger. "And that can be traced I bet?"

She nodded. "He had a vet working for him, the guy is corrupted and an idiot, claimed that he had found traces of medication in Velvet's blood. It was a fat lie"

She grasped the photo. "I have been working with horses my entire life and a foal born with that condition will suffer from several symptoms from birth. One is that it is unable to suckle on its own. Velvet was on her feet suckling within half an hour, she was so healthy and I know the symptoms and the disease well. He claimed that I was just an ignorant fool and knew naught about medicine"

Thran did look as if he had tasted something which tasted bad. "I see"

She put the photo back into the drawer. "They said that Velvet went blind just weeks after they bought her, that she was nervous and skittish and dangerous to be around. It was also bullshit, I had ridden her with a blindfold several times to make her trust my signals and she was as calm as they come."

Bard frowned. "So they sued your employers because of this?"

She nodded. "Yes, and ruined their reputation with it. That goddamn crook of a vet had been bought and told a lot of lies. Mr and Mrs Holt offered to buy the mare back but was told that she had been destroyed already, since she was dangerous to be around"

Bard gasped. "That is very…bad"

Nerdanel sighed. "No shit, only evidence was that vet and some photo's he had taken. Mrs Holt was so heartbroken I was afraid she would die here, she loved that filly. There wasn't a mean bone in Velvet, not one!"

Thran was tense. "How much did Mr Masters get?"

Nerdanel sneered. "Two million dollars, heard anything like that? The lawyers were screaming loudly about emotional damage to the kid who lost "Her best friend" and how the "entire family" was mourning and so on and so forth. Worst lies ever if you ask me. Bastard!"

Thran was blinking. "Two mill? Oh God, that is…a lot!"

Nerdanel grinned, a very sardonic grin. "Wanna know what's worse? They did trick the insurance company too, that is why the mare had to be more expensive for the more you pay for a horse the more you can get from the insurance."

Bard was feeling a bit faint. "The amount of money he got?"

Nerdanel grinned again, she did look like she was trying to bite into a sour lemon. "One point six mill, for a horse they bought for a hundred grand. Call that the catch of the century ha?"

Thran looked at Bard, his eyes were shooting lightening. "If Mr Masters did this to more people there is no wonder why he got killed"

Nerdanel smiled again and there was shadows in her eyes. "The story could have ended here but I think fate sometimes plays a strange game. You see, a dead horse cannot just be buried, it has to be delivered to a factory where they do transform biological waste into everything from biofuel to soap"

Thran nodded. "Yes, the new laws against pollution of the ground water."

Nerdanel nodded and folded her arms again. "There was this one guy working at the plant, he had worked for Mr and Mrs Holt one summer, painting fences and he did recognize the brand on the dead filly. He suspected foul play and took some photos of his own, and also some more before he called me."

She grasped some other photos from a drawer. "See. What do you see?"

Bard tilted his head. "A horses eye, with cataracts?"

Nerdanel nodded. "Yes, apparently, to a layman that would be rather obvious. They said that the cataracts came the moment Velvet no longer was being medicated and that the disease had been well known from the moment she was born, that Mr and Mrs Holt had sold a sick horse deliberately."

She got up and opened a fridge in the corner, took something out of it, it was a box which normally contains ice cream. She opened it and Bard gasped, it was two horse eyes, covered with frost and looking very peculiar. "See? He took the eyes out of her before he sent the body to be cremated. This isn't cataracts, for cataracts come from within the eye, if you look closely you will see that it is the top layer of the eye which has been burned off with acid"

Thran cringed and swore and Bard had to cough "Burned off?"

She nodded. "Yes, with acid. I did take some tests before I put them in the freezer. The vet must have done it and then taken the pictures before the damage became too great to look convincing."

She put the pictures down and closed the ice box again. "I wanted to drag him to court myself, for animal cruelty and for slandering my name. But I don't have the money, nor have I the influence. All I could do was to wait for fate to catch up with that abomination of a man. I am so glad it finally has"

Thran swallowed visibly. "Poor horse, acid! It must have been terrible, such agony"

Nerdanel nodded. "Yes, but I have friends everywhere, we horse people do stand together when we need to and I told everyone I knew to keep their ears and eyes open. I found a lot of shit, yes, a whole barrel of it"

She opened another drawer and pulled out a lot of papers. "Here, at least ten similar cases. All involving horses. He used the same corrupt vet each time, the guy has a gambling problem and when Mr Master's did pay him to do something less than legal he would wag his tail and be an obedient little bitch"

Thran frowned. "How can that vet still have a licence?"

Nerdanel smiled. "Because Mr Masters knows who to bribe and who to blackmail. The man was a beast"

Thran nodded silently to Bard, she was telling the truth, with his new gifts he did sense that rather well and Bard agreed. This woman hadn't murdered Mr Masters but she did have a reason to hate him for sure. "So, these are all cases where Mr Masters have used the same technique?"

She grinned, a very narrow and ugly grin. "Yes, it is all in there. Never twice in the same state, never the same insurance company and never the same method."

Thran grumbled. "He is being thorough then, preparing well."

She crossed her arms. "He made it his livelihood to ruin others. There are people on this list who have lost everything, one man did commit suicide. Imagine that?"

Bard felt his throat go dry, he was reading through the list and it was terrifying. "This case here, the stallion with a fractured leg? An accident?"

Nerdanel scoffed. "No, deliberate! They bought that one horse because the bloodline is infamous for brittle bones. He was checked tough, seemingly healthy. I bet they hit him over the leg with an iron pipe, or something like that."

Thran was a bit wild eyed. "Well, I am starting to be feel very glad that Mr Masters no longer is around, he comes across as a true creep"

Nerdanel nodded. "I hope you don't suspect Mr and Mrs Holt of this? They are not capable of harming anyone and this whole case has brought them such misery and pain, I would hate it if you were to rub even more salt into their wounds."

Thran sent her a swift smile. "I don't think that anyone here will be on the list of suspects no, but can you think of anyone who would be desperate enough to actually kill Mr Masters?"

Nerdanel let out a short snort. "Yeah? Like half the people on the list, but the main suspect would in my eyes be Ms Geraldine Proudfoot. "

She pointed at the list and Bard read the details. "The Masters did buy a pony from her and the animal died from some sort of colic three weeks later? Colic does happen to horses quite often doesn't it?"

Nerdanel smiled. "Yes, but this particular type is chronic and caused by changes in the gut. They said the pony had suffered from it since it was a foal. A lie of course, the vet even brought the diseased guts to the court. But I know a person who was there and he said that the guts presented came from a much larger animal than the pony."

Bard got up. "I see, I think we will go and visit this lady then. So she was angrier than most she was being sued?"

Nerdanel cocked her head. "Try furious, absolutely raging. She did say she wanted to kill Mr Masters though, and I think she meant it too. That woman is infamous for having a flaring temper, she is amazing with the horses but she did punch a guy who insulted her once and she has a restraining order against her ex. She tried to rape him with a broomstick, for having grasped some other woman's butt. "

Thran cringed. "Oh my, well, then she is capable of attacking someone for sure"

Nerdanel did look nervous. "Listen. I hope she didn't do it. She is a very decent person and I know her rather well, but if she did kill Mr Masters I cannot say that I hold it against her at all. He has ruined the lives of so many people I hope they have a very special place for him in hell"

Thran too got up. "So do we, thank you for your time Ma'am. It was most enlightening"

Nerdanel did shake their hands. "I am glad I could be of help, do call me if you need an expert ha? Now I have got to check on Princess once more, she is getting close I think"

The screen showed that the mare had laid down now and Bard smiled. "Do that, we'd better get going"

Thran took a deep breath when they got outside, heading for the car. "I bet that someone in the horse community is behind this, that list is long, and nasty!"

Bard got inside and fastened his seat belt. "Indeed, but we have to get back to the station before we go anywhere else. We need to spread this information, we cannot check everyone on the list, we won't be done until next year!"

Thran started the car, his eyes were dark. "Yes, but know what? That guy deserved it, I cannot say anything else for then I would be lying"

They were silent as they drove back to the city, Thran hadn't even turned on the radio and Bard did know him very well now, it meant that he was angry and shaken and Bard wished that he could have done something to soothe his husband's distress. They arrived at the station just before their shift ended and had time to delegate some tasks to the evening shift. Bard wanted as much as possible done before the morrow, he suspected that the next day would be busy for sure.

When they got back home Sigrid was waiting for them in the doorway, she was grinning from one ear to the other holding a letter. She had finished her exam with top scores and Bard was very proud of her. Bain and Legolas were visiting some friends of Bain and would stay there until the next day and Tilda was watching TV and tormenting Jean with constant questions about everything she saw. Jean had opened the restaurant just a month earlier and it was still in its early stages so the workload was monumental. The woman didn't mind that at all, it was a dream come true and she had gotten some very good stable workers for her horses so she didn't have to do all the dirty work anymore.

Bard did hug Tilda too and was glad Thran had been able to help her overcome her old trauma, she was doing better now and Thran was sure she would become completely normal before long. Jean had already eaten dinner with the kids but there was two huge portions left for the two men and Bard and Thran did sit down to eat. The rule was that they never brought their work with them back home but this time it was hard shoving it away. Jean was after all a horse breeder and she probably knew a lot of the people on the list. As they ate Bard shot of a question. "Say, you shouldn't happen to know a lady by the name of Geraldine Proudfoot?"

Jean lifted her head, looked puzzled. "As a matter of fact I do, how come?"

Barn shrugged. "Oh, I just came across the name during an investigation, it was unusual and I saw she is a horse breeder too?"

Jean nodded. "Yes, she breeds ponies. Very good at it. But she has had some bad luck lately, fell down a flight of stairs and broke her pelvis a month ago, apparently she won't be able to ride again for at least a year. Poor woman"

Thran bit his lower lip and shook his head, Geraldine was out of the question then, the one who had killed Mr Masters had to be a healthy strong person. They finished the dinner in silence and watched some TV before they went to bed. Now they shared a massive bedroom in the new house and it had an adjacent and very luxurious bathroom and Bard enjoyed a good soak before he joined his husband in bed. Thran was very quiet and Bard leaned over and planted a kiss on his cheek. "You are being bothered by this case aren't you?"

Thran sighed and kissed him back, with some hunger. He would often use the passion they shared as a shield between himself and the dark realities of their work and Bard didn't complain. "Yes, that man was…I don't know whether he was truly evil or just incredibly stupid!"

Bard felt that Thran tensed up, and knew what to do to ease him. "Call it both then"

He snaked his way down underneath the covers and Thran gasped and arched, surrendered to Bard's touch completely. Before long they were lost in each other and the world outside of their little lovers nest completely forgotten.

The next morning Thor met them the moment they arrived at work, he was a bit tired and his eyes were distant. "I had the evening and night shift go through everyone on the list, they had alibies, most of the rock solid too. One person was in hospital, and another one died a week ago."

Bard frowned. "Someone could have paid someone else to do the job?"

Thor nodded. "We have checked that too, Erestor has been all over the finances of the suspects, nothing which indicates any payments out of the ordinary. I think we are looking at this from the wrong angle"

Thran tilted his head, he had braided his hair and it did make him look very regal. "What do you mean?"

Thor sort of grimaced. "I have worked within the police for decades, and I think we need to broaden our horizon"

Bard nodded. "You don't think it had anything to do with Mr Masters lifestyle?"

Thor shrugged. "Call me a weird old man but my gut tells me we are missing something here."

Bard had to ponder this for a moment. "You are right, damn it. We should have seen it, the murder wasn't premeditated, it was perhaps done in desperation"

Thran closed his eyes. "Yes, it was a desperate move, the antlers in the head, it was done by someone who was scared, shocked and probably not anticipating any trouble"

Bard lifted his cell phone. "I need to make a swift call"

He dialled Judith's number and she answered right away. "Yes?"

Bard cleared his voice. "Judith, how much force do you need to achieve what was done to Mr Masters? I mean, a skull is hard yes?"

Judith's voice got a bit distant. "A lot, there was one bullet wound but the antler on the other side was just as deeply embedded in the head, heck, all the points were in there. It was done with great force"

Bard nodded. "Then we aren't looking for a woman but a rather strong man right?"

She answered. "Most definitely. A tall man, capable of tearing that deerhead off the wall in one go"

Bard thanked her and hung up, Thor did look rather pessimistic. "Mr Masters had a lot of associates, and he did also have many so called friends. It will take forever going through them all, I bet he had made enemies also outside of his rather doubtful suing business."

Thran grunted. "Indeed. Where do we start?"

Bard was about to answer when they saw a woman approaching the entrance, she was of Mexican origin and very pretty but above her youth. Thor frowned. "Who is that?"

Bard shrugged. "I don't know?"

The woman saw them and walked over, she carried a basket over her arm and she did appear to have some self-confidence for she carried her head high. "I am looking for the ones who is investigation the murder of Mr Masters? I am Rosalind, Mr Masters housekeeper"

Thor smiled with a polite bow. "You are looking at them ma'am."

Rosalind stared at the two very handsome men and she smiled, a swift almost shy smile. "I was interviewed yesterday, but there was something I discovered this very morning, something odd"

Thor tilted his head. "Yes?"

Rosalind swallowed. "Mr Masters did buy a small hand carved table four days ago, it was shaped like a bear, with a glass plate on top of it, as if the animal was carrying the plate see?"

Bard nodded. "Yes, and ?"

She took a deep breath. "He used it to place his booze somewhere classy, there were drawers in the bear, almost invisible. But this morning I did notice that the table was gone, and the door to the patio wasn't locked"

Thran tensed up. "The table, was it very valuable?"

Rosalind shook her head. "No, but he bought it from a private person, not an antiquity shop. He saw a picture of it online and wanted it, he was a bit proud of it for the bear was very realistic and would fit his lounge perfectly"

Bard stared at Thran. "And now it is gone? Know what? It has to mean something!"

Thor smiled at Rosalind. "You shouldn't happen to know who he bought that table from?"

Rosalind grasped a note from her basket. "Here, I did notice the name you see, it is unusual"

Bard stared. "Mr Festus Underhill, 345 Raven hill road"

She nodded. "Yes, apparently a wood artist of some sorts"

Thran smiled and he did look like a dog who has caught a fresh scent. "I think we ought to pay a visit to Mr Underhill"

Thor nodded . "Go, the table has to mean something."

Thran ran into his office and got his gun and Bard frowned. "You don't like guns?"

Thran nodded. "I don't but I feel as if we may need it this time"

They ran to the car and took off and the address was just twenty minutes away so they arrived there fast. The house was a large one with a huge yard in front of it and it was filled with wood in all shapes and sizes. Several tables filled with tools were placed there and Bard frowned, the placement was a bit odd? The tables were low and so were the power tools and machinery they saw and he had to gape. A half finished table stood that the end of the yard and it was shaped like four leaping trout standing on their tails and they would hold the table top balanced on top of their slightly bowed heads when it was over. The work was exquisite and so lifelike it was almost scary.

Thran was staring at the table and Bard had a strong suspicion that this table or one like it would decorate their living room rather fast unless the carver was the guilty one. They admired the work when they heard a sound and turned around. A man sitting in a wheelchair did enter the yard, he had lost his legs and a huge scar decorated the face from beneath the left eye to below the jawline. "Can I help you?"

The voice was gruff and yet the man did look very friendly, there was sawdust all over him so he was the artist for sure. Bard showed him the badge and the man frowned. "Coppers? Here?"

Bard nodded. "Uh, we are here because of a table, one you sold to Mr Masters some days ago?"

The man lightened up. "Oh yes, the bear! It was a heck of a lot of work, but the table was perfect. Has anything happened to it?"

Thran sort of shrugged. "Well, Mr Masters was killed yesterday, and the table vanished last night"

Mr Underhill stared at them, his eyes got wide. "Oh fuck, now that is…bad! I didn't like the dude for he was way too eager to pick the table up, I didn't have time to finish the job before he came for it"

Thran frowned. "Really?"

The man nodded vigorously. "Yes, I had one layer of lacquer left, the wood wouldn't get its perfect shine without it, but he wanted it for a party and couldn't wait. I got paid full price but I don't like sending off something which isn't complete."

Thran and Bard stared at each other and felt confused. Bard tried to think. "Say, there wasn't anyone else bidding for the table?"

Mr Underhill shook his head. "No, I put it online for sale the same day Mr Masters contacted me, nobody else had any time to bid for it. But there was one thing though…"

Thran took a deep breath. "Yes?"

Mr Underhill stared at them. "I have this guy working here, he cleans stuff, sharpens my tools and keeps things in order. I cannot do much without legs ha ha ha"

Bard swallowed. "Veteran?"

Mr Underhill nodded. "Yep, Afghanistan, ten years ago, fucking anti-tank mine, killed five good marines and took my legs and half of my face with them. I have been lucky though, I have my art, many others have nothing, except bitterness and booze"

Thran swallowed. "It is good to see that you have found a new meaning, but the man you mentioned?"

Mr Underhill nodded. "Mog yes, we just call him that here, he blew a fuse when I told him the table was sold and already picked up. I don't know why though, he just cussed and left, I haven't seen him afterwards"

Bard's eyes got narrow. "Aha, there are drawers in the table?"

Mr Underhill nodded. "Yes, some hidden ones too"

Thran sighed. "I think Mog must have hidden something in the table, it is the only logical explanation"

Mr Underhill cussed. "Son of a…ahem, pardon my French gentlemen. He is an ex-convict, served ten years for drugs"

Bard looked down. "And there we have it, fuck! Where does this Mog live?"

Mr Underhill turned the wheelchair around. "A minute, I have the address here"

He disappeared into a shed and returned with surprising speed. He handed them a note and Thran stared at it. "Thank you Sir, you shouldn't happen to know if this person is armed?"

Mr Underhill sighed. "If I was you I would be wearing a flak vest, he is capable of just about anything I fear. Did his job well but he wasn't the most sociable of guys. "

Bard nodded. "Alright, we better get going, thanks again"

Mr Underhill did make a swift salute. "My pleasure"

Thran grinned. "Are you online by the way, that gorgeous table over there would look great in our living room"

Mr Underhill laughed. "Just google me, that table will be expensive though, the balance is a son of a bitch, I have some hard work ahead of me. "

Thran just snickered. "Money won't be problem. Have a good day, you will hear from me"

Mr Underhill nodded and they walked out of the yard. Bard grasped the car radio the moment they were inside of it and checked the name against the database. "Dispatch, send reinforcements to Smaug avenue 67, fifth floor, apartment 34. The suspect is a Gothmog Dale, age 41, white Caucasian male, six foot two with short dark hair and a tattoo of an eagle across his chest"

They heard that dispatch answered and then they took off, Thran was looking nervous. "If there are drugs involved we could come up against just about anything."

Bard nodded. "Yes, we have wests in the trunk, and helmets too"

They careened into a parking place near the address and found the gear and put it on. Bard was feeling insecure. "Maybe we ought to wait for the swat team?!"

Thran shrugged. "Yes, but we can enter the building right? I don't like leaving the entrance unguarded"

They walked towards the entrance when two police cars arrived, sirens blazing and four officers jumped out. Bard rolled his eyes, the entire block would have heard that. No way they would be able to take the guy by surprise. Thran took his hand, squeezed it swiftly. "It is alright, we won't take any chances."

The four officers also wore wests and guns and they entered the building tactically. Thran stayed behind since he wasn't trained for this and they ran up the stairs. They were entering the right floor when they heard a godawful racket coming from up ahead, someone was screaming and Bard cussed and kicked up the door to the corridor. They saw a woman laying on the floor and a kid stood by her side, bawling with fear. The woman was just knocked out but she had a nasty blue bruising forming around her right eye and Thran grasped his radio. "Dispatch, an ambulance to before mentioned address. One female, head trauma"

The woman groaned. "Son of a bitch, he kicked me down!"

Bard shook her gently. "Ma'am, where did he go? Was it Mog?"

The woman nodded, her eyes blurred with pain. "Yes, the goddamn bastard, he ran down that way"

She pointed down the corridor and Bard was already running, he could hear someone heading down the second set of stairs and he ran as fast as he could. He suddenly had to stop though when several bullets flew by him and hit the concrete wall, releasing clouds of dust. He backed off and the suspect disappeared into a door which did lead into the second floor of the building. The two police officers were already right behind Bard and he wondered where Thran was. The corridor was dark, the lights were out and Bard swore under his breath, they couldn't just run into the dark like that, unprotected. The culprit did carry a gun, possibly more than one and although the vests were good they couldn't stop bullets from hitting the head or the neck or legs. The two police officers were panting. "Fuck, he is fast isn't he?"

Bard nodded. "Yes, and desperate, firing at an officer of the law is usually the last thing you wish to do, unless you plan on staying behind bars for a very long time."

They moved forth slowly, holding their flashlights tight and checking every corner, the corridor was long and it had a turn too. This building used to be a hotel years ago and there were doors everywhere. Bard was in front now and he was trying to determine whether or not they should just stop and wait when a door next to him opened abruptly and he was grasped in a headlock and dragged into the room. He lost the gun and felt steel pressing towards his body, it was Mog and he was obviously freaked out. "Stay back, or this cop gets it!"

Mog was heading towards the window, there were fire stairs outside and he opened the window and hauled Bard out, using him as a shield. The man was cussing and talking the whole time but nothing he said made any sense at all. It sounded like gibberish. He was obviously as high as a kite! Bard didn't resist but he made himself heavy and hard to handle and Mog did drag him forth for a few meters and had to change his grip. That was when Bard heard a single gunshot and Mog let go of him, grasping his left shoulder. Bard saw Thran on the fire stairs, just a few meters ahead and Mog did what every mad possible killer does in such a situation, he dove over the rail as if he believed that he was some sort of superman. The man fell several meters, hit a garbage container and didn't listen to Thran yelling that he had to stop or get shot again. Bard ran down the stairs and Thran was at his heels and they reached the ground just as Mog jumped out of the container with the elegance of a pregnant walrus.

The man could run, in spite of having been shot and being high he would have given any athlete a run for the money but suddenly two squad cars did enter the street with lights on and the man turned on a dime and saw a possible escape. They were close to the great park and there were cabs there, the old horse drawn type. A few were parked along the street where it was shade and Mog ran desperately towards the first one. The two police cars had stopped, one was a K9 unit and the officer was releasing his dog, a massive German shepherd who looked very eager and more than ready to sink his teeth into some human flesh.

Bard groaned, the fleeing man couldn't possibly believe that he could escape using a cab? He didn't listen to the shouts and rushed towards the first cab, a gig drawn by a very large grey horse which stood there with his head hanging low. The horse was tethered to a fire hydrant and the man grasped the tethers to free the horse and reached for the reins. Bard didn't want to think of the damage this could cause, a wild man trying to escape the law in a carriage? And the poor horse, it would be in jeopardy too now. But Mog did make one crucial mistake, he probably assumed that all horses are kind and docile creatures and that they can be handled by just about anyone. He had never been more wrong in his life.

The moment Mog laid a hand on the reins to drag them with him into the cab the huge horse turned his massive head around with his ears flat back and he grasped the man with his long yellow front teeth, by the already injured shoulder. Bard and Thran could only look in a mixture of horror and disbelief as the horse lifted the man off his feet and shook him violently. Now the dog reached Mog too and grasped a hold of his inner left thigh and for a moment the two animals were part of a tug o war with the man as the rope. The dog won, the horse just let go of the man and shook its head up and down a few times, as if he was laughing. The dog was snarling and Mog was screaming like an air raid siren, the sound could be heard from blocks away.

The K9 officer reached the man and told the dog to back off and before two seconds were gone Mog was cuffed and now he was wailing in pain and trying to come up with excuses. Bard and Thran walked over, rather casually. Mog wasn't going anywhere now and the man was staring at the dog as if it was satan himself. The owner petted the huge male rather lovingly. "Good boy Huan, very good boy"

Bard sat down onto his haunches and he was smiling, he had gotten shot at and been hauled off like a packet and he didn't like it, at all. "Listen up Mog, here is the deal. You tell me all about the table and Mr Masters and I promise that Huan here won't have your balls for dinner today, now, how does that sound?"

Mog was writhing. "Fuck, morphine man, I need morphine, the nag, it bit me!"

Thran nodded. "Yes, and if you don't start talking I am sure I can convince the cab driver of the necessity of letting us borrow his horse for a few moments more, he looks like he wants another taste, just like Huan"

Mog whimpered. "It wasn't my fault ya, it was Mr Underhill. He shouldn't have sold that goddamn table, I hid my stash in it man, all I had. So I had to go and get it back, but that fat fucker caught me and I had to end him, he saw me!"

Bard sent Thran a tight smile. "And you hid it with the deer head, that was very clever Mog, but you returned now didn't you?"

The man nodded, sulking. "I didn't get to find the table, it was in another room and there were someone in the hallway. I disengaged the alarms and came back yeah, found the table and my stash"

Thran gestured towards one of the officers. "Put him in a car, under surveillance. He may need a doctor"

Bard and Thran ran back upstairs and found Mog's apartment and lo and behold, the table was there. It was very heavy so it was really a wonder that the man had managed to transport it without being seen by anyone but the table did in fact have some small wheels which could be pulled up when it was supposed to be stationary and it rolled fairly easily. On top of the table was several bags and Thran stared at them. "If I am not very wrong that is enough drugs to make an entire army high, Mog cannot expect anyone to believe that he keeps all this shit just to feed his own addiction"

Bard shook his head. "Nope, but the mystery is solved, the culprit is apprehended and justice will be served."

Thran had to laugh. "Yes, Mr Masters did make a living on horses and now his killer got caught by one, that is pretty ironic wouldn't you say? "

Bard chuckled too. "Yes, I think I will have a word with the boss of the state prison, I know they have this program where the inmates are to tame wild horses, I bet Mog will be thrilled to be a part of that"

Thran gave Bard a friendly punch to the shoulder. "Oh love, that would be cruel, think of the poor animals"

When they returned to the station Thor was in a very good mood, the case had been solved in record speed and the murderer was behind bars already. He was even humming as he gave the two men the rest of the day off. Bard and Thran couldn't believe their own luck and immediately went to eat dinner at a very expensive restaurant. Mog got life in jail, he wouldn't return to the outside world ever and good riddance. Thran did buy the fish table from Mr Underhill and it did look marvellous when it was finished, it fitted their living room perfectly. The only one not very happy was Mrs Masters when she discovered that there was something written with very small letters in the marriage contract and now she was on bare ground without anything at all of her husband's money. A very skilled lawyer had managed to convince the state judge of the wisdom in granting everyone Mr Masters had sued a fat compensation and thus there was very little left. So the suing days were over, Mrs Masters did find herself a new sugar daddy after just a month and was promptly dumped two weeks later when said sugar daddy found a very pretty twenty year old with fake boobs and an ever more fake smile. Sometimes fate does walk in mysterious ways.


	2. Every rose has it's thorn

Chapter two: Every rose has its thorn

Bard did feel it the moment they entered the car, Thran was sending off "those" vibes and he knew exactly what they were. The tall blonde was staring out of the window and his jaw was clenched and his expression one of intense discomfort. Bard knew Thran by now and this was one of those things which really affected his husband. Heck, it affected them all, no wonder really. It was the most terrible thing of all. They drove towards the scene in a convoy of squad cars and they used the lights and the sirens for all they were worth, the cars on the roads did swerve to the side to let the police through and Bard had to concentrate on keeping the powerful cruiser on the road. The car was brand new and the engine capable of pushing it up to frightening speeds. Thran didn't say a word, he had been silent since Thor came rushing into the office, bearing the news they really didn't want, a murder just on the outskirts of the city. Bard had hoped for a few peaceful days since it was summer and very warm, they had planned upon taking the kids to a local lake for a few days of bathing and fun and he would hate it if he had to disappoint them.

The cars careened into the parking lot in front of the Golden Crane hotel, it was owned by Chinese immigrants and it was among the oldest ones in the city. The huge building had been refurnished several times and now it was regarded as a good hotel and conference centre, its reputation did ensure its continued survival for there was a stiff competition between the hotels. Bard sighed when he saw the many cars which already had gathered there, reporters and god knew what else. They descended upon a scene of tragedy like ravenous vultures from above and he felt sick. The huge sign in front of the hotel told everyone what the place did host this week. "Welcome to the tenth annual state beauty pageant"

Bard rolled his eyes, he knew what he would see and Thran probably shared his thoughts. They parked and walked inn, everybody were gathered in one of the large halls and there were guards there. Bard heard the sounds of crying children and hysterical women and Thran was a bit pale. "This is filth!"

Bard stared at his husband with a slight feeling of shock, he had never heard Thran make such crass statements before? Thran pointed at one of the posters, it showed a girl of perhaps four or five and she was wearing a costume better suited for a prostitute than a kid and she was wearing full makeup and her posture was one intended to seduce. "These kids lose their childhood, doesn't the parents see this?"

Bard sighed, "No, they see crowns and tiaras and the chance of fifteen minutes of worthless fame"

One of the hotel guards met them, the police was waiting to be allowed entrance since Judith had arrived already and needed to see the body before it was moved or touched in any way. Bard and Thran and Elisa were among the first to be allowed entrance to the basement and they walked down the stairs with a feeling of nausea. This was all just so very wrong. The room was not very large and it was extremely hot since the boiler used to heat the rooms were placed there and it hadn't been switched off for the summer since the system was old and needed it for heating bathwater too.

Bard knew that the kid had been reported missing three hours before she was found, an Amber alert had been issued to all police units and the news had been all over it. Some had been sure that some sick pervert had kidnapped the girl and now those rumours would spread even faster. Judith was grim, her face stiff and her eyes did shoot lightening. She pulled her gloves off and nodded to the two CSI technicians who had arrived with her. "You can move her now guys, I have seen all I can here. The poor thing…she was just six"

Bard had to turn around, it was the janitor who had discovered the body, some rooms had complained about not getting enough hot water and the reason was obvious. The body had been jammed in between the boiler and the wall and several valves had been pushed into their closed position by the culprit, just to get room to shove the body inn there. Thran was pale and Bard tried not to look at the body, the eyes were open and revealed a sort of innocent disbelief and shock which made his stomach churn. Judith sighed and closed her equipment box, she looked as if she was about to cry. "I have seen so much but goddamn it, this always gets to me, always!"

Thran touched her shoulder gently. "You wouldn't have been human if you didn't. It shows you are normal, and a good person"

Judith just smiled stiffly and walked off and Elisa saw that the technicians started to pull the body out, they dusted the valves for fingerprints first and Thran tried to be professional. "Shoving a body into that tight space takes strength, and either determination or desperation."

Bard nodded. "I agree on that, but why there? The janitor saw the body the moment he entered the room, the man is supposedly in shock still"

Thran tilted his head. "Yes, one could almost believe that the killer wanted the body to be found quickly?"

Bard took a deep breath. "Right, first things first. The mother of the deceased is waiting, tenth floor, room 1018. Her name is Miranda Smith and the girl is Ianda Smith Jerkins, age six, two times beauty queen and infamous for winning almost every competition she entered"

Thran almost sneered. "These pageants are just…revolting. Mothers trying to gain fame through their kids, families spending all their money on something which just breeds sick body images and a loss of self-esteem?"

Bard had to smile. "I agree, whole heartedly."

Elisa had not spoken much, she was obviously unwell and she sort of hurried out of the basement. Bard caught up with her. "If this affects you just tell me, I can give you the task of interviewing the staff, see if they have seen anything odd, strangers, abnormalities of any kind"

Elisa swallowed and nodded. "I am sorry, it is just that…When I was six mom wanted me to participate in a pageant and I was so excited and believed that it was gonna be fun. But the judges didn't even look at me and kept criticizing my skin colour and the fact that I was fat. But I had normal weight for my age. I never forgot it, but now I of course know that it was because I am a native"

Bard made a grimace. "I am very sorry"

Thran stared at her. "Do the interviews Elisa, we can deal with the mom"

Elisa did look relieved and she took off and they found the elevators. The entire hotel was being searched from roof to basement, in case the culprit still was in there. The room was rather large and the woman who sat heartbroken in a couch appeared to be rather well off, she wasn't a working class woman, that was for sure. Bard saw that her shoes were the kind you have to order in advance and her slacks and blouse were silk. She was weeping and her eyes puffy and red and yet she did look beautiful and it was a very natural beauty, a rather sharp contrast with what the whole pageant thing was about. Bard had seen drag queens who looked way more natural than some of the kids who participated in these competitions. Bard cleared his throat. "Mrs Smith? I am Bard Bowman, I am in charge of the investigation."

Mrs Smith gasped and she wiped her face. "Oh Gods, I cannot believe it is true, my Ianda, my precious girl."

Thran did sit down, a couple of other women were there too, one was rather alike Mrs Smith and had to be her sister and the other one was a very sophisticated looking woman wearing a business suit. She was obviously shaken and her hands were trembling. "Could you please tell me what happened today? Use your own words, and everything is important, take us through it."

Mrs Smith closed her eyes. "We went to breakfast as usual, Ianda was going to compete in the second rounds this evening and she had to get her hair done in time so we had to be finished early. After that we did go to the hair dresser and I told her to wait in our room for I had to go to the officials and pay the entrance fee. There had been some problems with the banks and I had to run around the entire place trying to find an ATM machine."

Bard nodded. "We noticed, there has been computer problems everywhere, some sort of glitch in the system"

Mrs Smith did try to smile, she was trying to be brave but failed. "I spent half an hour trying to get the money and when I did I ran back and paid and then I returned to the room only to find it empty, Ianda would never have left with anyone she didn't know, she is such a very smart girl and she knows that strangers can be dangerous"

Thran caught Bards gaze with an almost imperceptible nod. Mrs Smith had said is, not was, a killer would speak of the victim in the past sense. She was not the one behind this. Bard looked at the other two women there. "And you ladies are?"

The one who looked like Mrs Smith had been weeping and she was a bit hoarse. "I am Jeanine, Miranda's sister. I was in town for a congress and hurried here when I heard that Ianda was missing, I…"

She gasped and there was something very dark in her eyes. "These pageants are so wrong, so very wrong! And now someone has…murdered my niece!"

The other woman sighed and closer her eyes. "I am a friend of Miranda, I came with her and Ianda to this pageant as a favour, Miranda needed someone to tape Ianda's performance and I know how to use a camera since I used to work for a TV station. Now I am a secretary to Miranda's husband Tommy"

Thran frowned. "Is he Ianda's dad?"

Miranda shook her head, "No, that was my ex Fred, we got divorced when Ianda was one, we just…we didn't have much in common and we did separate very peacefully. He has her one weekend each month"

Jeanine nodded. "Yes, she and Fred were just not meant to be, he was too focused on his career but Tommy loves Ianda like his own and he is really great with her"

Thran nodded. "So, Ianda has won several crowns, and she is a favourite here, do you think that anyone in the pageant society could be behind this?"

Miranda shook her head. "This whole pageant thing is…was her idea, she wanted to try and I was too weak and gave inn. But it is such a vicious society, you wouldn't believe the hatred, the bigotry and the jealousy one can encounter on a daily business"

Bard cocked his head. "I have understood that some mothers are a bit competitive yes"

Miranda rolled her eyes. "Not just the mothers, believe me. In some cases it is the moms who sort of push their kids into this and demand that they win, but I have seen that the kids are just as bad, if not worse. They get such terrible attitudes from this, all that matters is winning, if the child protective services knew of the things which I have seen going on there would be an uproar"

Thran did look a bit angry. "And yet you let Ianda participate?"

Miranda nodded, her shoulders slumped forward. "Yes, because I expected her to lose. We are doing well, we have money and she will go to a top school and have all that she wants and I thought that this may teach her a little about life, and how to deal with setbacks and disappointments but she was good at it, in fact Ianda is among those who really enjoy performing and of course the judges notice that and gives her points for it"

Bard had to scoff. "So you did this expecting her to fail?!"

Miranda closed her eyes. "Does that make me a terrible mom? I just wanted her to be prepared for life, to be more than those spoiled kids who never has faced resistance at all. And now…Oh Gods!"

Miranda broke down in tears again and her sister did scoot over and embraced her. Thran bit his lower lip. "So, none of you have noticed anything out of the ordinary? Nobody has tried to contact you, no fan letters, no phone calls?"

Miranda dried her tears. "No, some of the girls have fans, but I have tried to avoid that for Ianda, she doesn't need that sort of twisted attention."

Bard looked at the sister. "And you haven't seen anything?"

Jeanine shook her head. "No. but…"

Bard looked at her. "Yes?"

Jeanine made a grimace. "When I arrived I did notice that there were a lot of workers here, carrying stuff, tarp, buckets and even wheel barrels? I am sure you already know but…"

Bard knew what she was thinking, it was easy to hide a small body in building material. "Good thinking ma'am, we will check it out"

Thran got up. "The hotel manager has probably found the surveillance videos from earlier today, let's go and pay him a visit."

Miranda was sobbing. "Please, find the one who did this to my baby, I cannot stand the thought of it happening to anyone else…"

Bard tried to smile but his face was stiff. "We will do our best, and our deepest condolences"

Thran almost dragged Bard into the hallway, he was still pissed off. "These goddamn freak shows are like beacons for perverts, I am sure of it, some sick bastard killed the kid!"

Bard laid a hand on Thran's shoulders, the muscles were tense. "Let us not jump to conclusions before we have all the facts now shall we?"

Thran sighed. "You are right, I was overreacting, but this makes me…It is just so terrible!"

Bard nodded and squeezed his hand, smiling. "Come, the manager is waiting"

The hotel manager turned out to be a Caucasian man with a receding hairline, a bit of a belly and a nervous twitch around his eyes. He was in obvious despair due to this terrible incident and he was wiping the sweat of his face all the time. Bard did present them and the man bowed his head. "I am Jonathan Bree, I have run this hotel for Mr and Mrs Ling for fifteen years and not once, not once have we had a serious crime happening here. Oh our reputation will plummet, we may be heading for bankruptcy.!"

Thran frowned. "A child has died and you worry about money?!"

Mr Bree did wipe his forehead again, the handkerchief looked as if it was soaked already. "I am sorry, but…it is my livelihood, it is all I know"

Bard sighed. "So, the surveillance videos?"

Mr Bree nodded and opened the door into a room with screens and a couple of guys sat there watching the live feed from the restaurant and the main hall. They saw the two men enter and turned on a couple of screens. "This is all that was taped from six o clock this morning until the kid was found"

Bard sat down and Thran leaned onto his shoulder, staring at the screen. They saw several elevators, some stairs and the restaurant and the main hall plus the hotel lobby. Bard did fast forward the tapes until they saw Mrs Smith enter the restaurant with the girl, they did leave half an hour later and then they saw that both entered the elevator and returned to the room. Five minutes after that the mom returned to the elevators and left the lobby after having spoken to the man behind the desk, apparently asking for the nearest bank or ATM machine. Twenty nine minutes after that she did reappear and disappeared into the main hall, there were no holes in her story at all. They then stared at the elevator tapes again, after the mom left to get money, and for the first twenty minutes they saw just other guests entering and leaving and most of them together with several others and many were kids. Just a few minutes before Mrs Smith did take the elevator back to the tenth floor both investigators did freeze up, Ianda did enter the elevator and she had something in her hand, it wasn't large but it was obviously rather soft and she was clutching it close to her chest.

The girl did stare at the camera once and she did look determined, her lower jaw shot forward. Then the doors opened at the sixth floor and someone almost stepped into the elevator but turned around and Ianda did speak to whoever it was. The doors shut and she did go down to the second floor before she left the elevator and was out of it for about four minutes. When she returned she didn't have the object in her hand and she was riding back up towards the tenth floor but at the sixth floor the elevator stopped and the doors opened, someone entered but with the back to the camera, almost hiding in the corner so all they saw was the top of a head. Ianda was obviously asking a question and the person seemed to be gesturing, then the elevator stopped at the seventh floor and now both left it. Bard stared at Thran and his eyes were huge, "Who is that?"

Thran stared at the other tapes, none of them did show the corridors and Ianda didn't appear on any other of the surveillance videos after that and Thran sighed. "That person knows the hotel, and where all the cameras are."

Bard nodded "Let us take the tapes to the station, I will ask Thor to send an expert in image technology over"

Thran was tense and Bard did lean over and transferred all the data to a memory stick. He felt that the hand resting on his shoulder was like a claw. They returned to the lobby and Bard called Thor who promised to get someone who could take a look at the tapes when they returned. Elisa was done with the interviews and Bard saw that she was talking to the clerk, the man was obviously upset. She smiled at them but the smile was more of a grimace really. "They have had workers scurrying in and out of the hotel the entire morning, the aircondition system broke down last night and had to be fixed and several rooms got no warm water."

Bard started to suspect that this hotel was more run down than anyone could guess after all. "So, the interviews?"

Elisa rolled her eyes. "I did interview some, but they are already at it again, practicing and rehearsing, as if nothing has happened, will you believe it? I spoke to the judges and the one in charge of the pageant but none of the moms had time for me. They were pissed that they were being held back and unable to tend to their little princesses"

Elisa said the last word with so much vitriol it was little doubt that she absolutely hated this. Bard took a deep breath. "Right, well, maybe we will be in better luck then, we have to find out if any of the mom's here have seen something out of the ordinary, or the kids for that sake"

Elisa looked as if she was about to suck a very sour lemon. "Good luck, those….ladies will not bother with anything except their chances of winning!"

Bard opened the door into the great hall. Several girls ranging from four to seven stood in line waiting for their stage rehearsal and one girls was on stage now, wearing a sort of cowgirl costume with a skirt which barely covered the bottom and a top which had less fabric than an average handkerchief. She was strutting around in high heeled boots while swinging a flag and the mom was standing in the middle of the floor hollering. "More energy Daisy, lift your legs, don't drag them like an old cow!"

The girl did try, and then she sort of turned around and stuck out her tongue while leaning forward, butt sticking out in the air. Bard did blink, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Thran is that girl…"

Thran sounded a bit aspirated. "Twerking, yes, oh God."

Bard swallowed. "If I catch Tilda or Sigrid doing that before they are ready for the retirement home I will smack their bottoms into next Thursday, I swear to the lord!"

The mother was swaying her hips too, screaming. "More, pump it baby, just like Miley, stick your tongue out!"

Thran closed his eyes and appeared to be praying and Bard sort of snapped. He grasped a small hammer which lay on the table the judges would use and slammed it into the wood so hard everybody just jumped and stared with disbelief. Some of the women there did notice that these two men were tall and very handsome and Bard did see the predator awaken in several of the gazes which landed on them. He held up his badge. "Listen, we have some questions for you ladies and would greatly appreciate if you could answer them, it would be too bad if we had to shut this whole show down!"

One of the moms did scoff. "Alright, but be quick. We need to practice"

Thran frowned, "A child has died most horribly and you don't even seem to be shocked?"

The woman just grimaced. "Ianda was such a pampered brat, she had it coming. Now we others have a chance again, finally!"

Bard almost gaped but closed his mouth. Several of the other women there did appear to share that woman's attitude for there were mumbling heard from several and it sounded as if they all agreed, wholeheartedly. Bard did swallow, hard. "So first things first, have anyone been approached by any strangers? "

Heads were shaken. "Na-ah, the hotel has security, nobody is let in who doesn't belong here!"

A very fat woman wearing what could only be described as a fashion disaster was speaking, her arms folded over her chest. Bard had to stare, she had to be wearing ship sails for a bra for damn, the size of her chest? Thran was sending them a very harsh glare. "So in reality everyone of you could be behind this, to get a rival moved out of the way?"

The women were gaping and one did get up, she was pointing at them. "If you want to know who could have done this ask Dina Butterdale, she loathed Ianda since Ianda won when in reality her daughter Cindy ought to have been the winner."

Thran cocked his head. "And this Dina Butterdale, where is she?"

Several heads were turning, faces were frowning and one of the women, a tall blonde with a BMI way under the skinny limit made a sour pout. "Have no idea, she is here this week for she has volunteered to help arranging the pageant but she was supposed to come to me this morning and help me stitch together Sandra's costume but she never showed."

Thran frowned. "Her daughter isn't here?"

Heads were being shaken. "No, Cindy has got the measles, couldn't come, just silly really for a little sickness has never harmed anyone but the rules are so goddamn strict"

Bard rolled his eyes, a little sickness…When he was a kid he knew a boy in his class who had lost five siblings because of measles, it was not just a little sickness but a killer of children but people seemed to have forgotten about that. "So Mrs Butterdale isn't here?"

The blonde shrugged. "Nobody's seen her since before breakfast, she was helping Miss Buxley here prepare her products"

A blonde woman wearing a tight blue dress waved her hand from the back of the room. She was standing by a table filled with boxes and jars and the two walked over. "I am Miss Camille Buxley, I represent the "Charming and flawless" make up brand. I sell you see"

Bard saw that the make up on the table ranged from foundation to mascara and even some very expensive skin creams. And all this for kids? He lifted a jar, the price made him almost drop it. "So this is aimed at the moms?"

Miss Buxley giggled. "Of course not silly, this is all about the girls. This here for example…"

She held up a jar of foundation. "Is perfect for creating a skin like porcelain, no birthmarks, no acne, not even a freckle. We sell a lot of it, the firm is going to turn this into a great success"

Bard swallowed. "Bottles of skin cream at two hundred dollars a jar? For a kid?"

The woman just laughed. "Oh that is nothing, many moms spend thousands of dollars on porcelain veneers for the teeth, chemical peeling, orthopaedic shoes, treatments, diets, even skin bleaching. A few hundred bucks for a cream is cheap darling"

Thran did look like he was about to retch. "And you don't feel bad being a part of a business like this?"

Miss Buxley did look at him over her glasses, she was more than a little round and her face was rather sweet. She appeared to be near sighted and the glasses were like coke bottles. "No, if I wasn't here selling this stuff someone else would be, the market demands it and we supply the masses with what they want. That is capitalism dear"

Bard tried to think. "Miss Butterdale did help you?"

Miss Buxley did nod, she moved a few jars. "Oh yes, if she has said she'll do it she will, she did show up being her usual delightful self. That woman could have made fresh milk turn sour, believe me. She was so pissed that Cindy wasn't allowed to participate this year"

Thran crossed his arms and noticed that many of the women there were staring at his posterior with hungry gazes. He shuddered. "Why was that?"

The saleswoman did lower her voice, and she did look a bit gleeful. "Oh you see, she had discovered that Mr Button was going to be among the judges and he has a particular taste so she had prepared Cindy rather well. She was sure Cindy would win this time for Ianda lacked that little extra"

Thran was frowning, his eyes told them both of great disbelief. "And by a little extra you mean?"

Miss Buxley was almost whispering now. "Do not tell anyone but she had given Cindy hormones, a little extra, see?"

She pressed her chest forward and shook her body so her boobs were moving and Bard felt sick. "Oh lord, she gave her kid hormones? How old is Cindy?"

Miss Buxley tilted her head. "Seven, going on eight so this was her last chance in this class. Next year she will have to compete against girls up to thirteen and they always win. You know, lamb chops. The judges do love a little Lolita. "

Bard had to swallow hard, he felt the taste of bile in his mouth and Thran hurried. "So, Miss Butterdale did show up when she was supposed to but after that nobody has seen her?"

Everybody nodded and Bard took a deep breath. "Now that is suspicious if you ask me, does anyone have a picture of Miss Butterdale?"

One of the moms came forth with a sort of group photo, many women were staring into the camera grinning but looking as if they wanted to murder the one standing next to them. "It is the one over to the left, with the grey hair"

Bard looked at the picture, the woman was rather petite and slender but she appeared to be used to hard work for she had worn hands. "I will need this picture"

The woman just shrugged. "Keep it, I have no use for it. Are you done now?"

Thran sighed and nodded. "We are, does anyone know what room Miss Butterdale lives in?"

Miss Buxley did nod. "Room 635 I think"

Thran smiled at her and the woman giggled and Bard rolled his eyes. They walked back towards the elevators after having gotten a universal card which opened every door there and pressed the button after having entered. Bard felt how upset Thran was and embraced him, kissing him gently. Thran answered the kiss and they were still locked in an embrace as the doors opened. A tall woman wearing a ghastly feather boa and tights so tight they appeared to be a part of her skin stared at them and slammed her hands in front of the eyes of a girl of perhaps six years of age. She was wearing a miniscule polka dotted bikini with a padded top, thick makeup and high heels. "Perverts!"

The door closed again and Thran just growled. "Thanks the same!"

The room of Ms Butterdale was so tidy it appeared that nobody lived there but some clothes lay in a pile on the bead and a suitcase stood on the floor. Thran stared at the room, tried to catch a glimpse of who Miss Butterdale was. The suitcase was almost empty but there were some lingerie in it and a small box containing some jewellery. On the table there was a picture of a girl, she did look very sweet and she didn't wear any make up at all, she was smiling towards the camera, holding a tiny kitten. In a pocket inside of the suitcase there was a small teddy bear and a folded up diploma, for most pretty baby at the county fair. Thran swallowed. "She loves her daughter fiercely, the kid is the most important thing to her. Look, the picture is placed neatly on the table while her own stuff is just tossed onto the bed"

Bard swallowed. "Do you think she can be the one?"

Thran nodded. "Yes, believe it or not. A woman like this lives not for her children but through them, I bet she has met many obstacles in her life, perhaps she never has known real joy and love and she wants to make sure that her daughter gets everything she never had. Acceptance, admiration, wealth. And to some nothing may stand in the way of just that"

Bard frowned and stared at the picture. "I cannot remember having seen her on the surveillance videos?"

Thran nodded. "Neither did I? We'll get the expert to check them for us"

They returned to the lobby after having told the staff that the room of Ms Butterdale was to remain untouched until further notice. Elisa had already returned to the station and the CSI technicians were done dusting for fingerprints and looking for particles or anything else which could offer a clue. The hotel was being left now and Bard did put out a wanted notice for Ms Butterdale, he hoped that she could be found soon. Disappearing out of a hotel like that was more than a little suspicious when a murder had happened.

They arrived at the station and Bard parked the car, he felt that a headache was creeping in on him and he sighed and rubbed his forehead. Thran delivered the memory stick to Thor who had a very worried expression on his face, nobody needed to ask why. This was the kind of case which could trigger a public panic and he would probably have a hard time keeping the reporters at bay. Judith seemed to have a sixth sense telling her when the investigators returned for Bard got a text from her the moment he sat down at his desk and he groaned and turned to Thran who was trying to force a cup of the absolutely ghastly coffee brewed by the office machine down his throat. It did look like tar and judging from his expression it did taste like tar too. "Judith texted me, are you coming?"

Thran sighed and put the cup down. "No reason to delay this, let's go"

They walked down the stairs to the basement and entered the new morgue, the rooms did look like an operating theatre at a hospital and Judith was standing by a row of wash basins, cleaning her hands. She smiled at them but the smile was very thin and her eyes were dark. "There you are, I have done the preliminary examination of the body and I do have a cause of death"

Bard wetted his lips. "Yes?"

Judith took up a sheet of paper, a body was drawn onto it, a sort of standard outline of a child's torso and she had made markings on it. She pointed at them, her expression one of almost disbelief. "This was done in a hurry, probably in desperation. It wasn't premeditated at all. "

She pointed her pen at the head. "The cause of death was here, the child's temple was hit by something rather small but hard and at high velocity. It fractured the skull and caused a bleeding between the brain and the skull. Then the side of her neck was struck again, with the same object, and it did pierce the skin and ruptured the neck artery, the girl did bleed out within ninety seconds."

Bard swallowed hard. "What sort of object are we talking about?"

Judith sort of shrugged. "I have no clue, it is not sharp, but hard, and I cannot wrap my head around the shape. It is no weapon, that is for sure. This was something which was just there and the killer just grasped it. "

Thran did look intrigued. "What shape are we talking about?"

Judith did grasp a sheet of paper and a marker and drew onto it. "This, it is like a small U or a horseshoe, the size of a keyboard tab"

Bard tried to wrap his head around it but failed to make any sense out of it. What the heck could it be? Thran grasped the drawing and turned it around, staring at it, then he grew pale and he stared at Bard with huge eyes " Folks, I know what this is!"

Judith gaped. "Educate us, please!"

Thran nodded and put the drawing down. "It is a heel, from a shoe, a stiletto."

Judith made a grimace. "Oh damnation, why didn't I see that? Gaahd, it is so obvious!"

Bard was blinking. " Uh, a shoe! Piercing the artery?!"

Judith nodded. "Believe me, it is very possible, when I was a student I worked at an E.R for a few months and we received this woman with a stiletto stuck on her face, the heel had pierced her cheek, she and a friend had fought over some guy and the friend had smacked her with the shoe, tiny skinny girl but more than strong enough."

Thran swallowed. "The killer is a woman then, and we have a hotel filled with them, and how many of them are wearing high heels?"

Bard rolled his eyes. "Eighty percent? But that friend of Mrs Smith? She was wearing some very elegant high heels? With red soles?"

Thran nodded. "I did notice them, they are expensive as fuck and no, I don't think she did it, unless she has several pairs stacked into her purse or something. There must have been a lot of blood, as a matter of fact a heck of a lot of it and where is it?"

Bard waved a finger. "Yes, exactly! Where? The entire hotel was searched, roof to basement"

Judith sort of frowned. "Was every room searched?"

Thran sighed. "No, not the rooms with guests?"

She made a grimace. "I bet that the blood is in one of the rooms, and the culprit will flee before the staff has a chance to discover it"

Thran shrugged. "But that person will be exposed then, and I still think it may be Ms Butterdale. But there is something about it I just cannot understand, I was thinking about it in the car on the way back"

Judith tilted her head. "Spill it dear, what were you pondering about?"

The profiler made a sort of apologetic grimace. "Uh, well, like I said back at the hotel, Ms Butterdale do love her daughter, there is no doubt about it. She sets her kid above herself, and that makes her a potential killer but I just cannot make sense of what that saleswoman said. A grown woman would certainly know that hormones to a kid that young are very dangerous? I cannot see a devoted mother doing that to her seven year old"

Bard made a grimace. "There are girls as young as nine now who start their periods, it is the overweight problem and the hormones in everything out there"

He sighed, he had never had to have "that" conversation with Sigrid for Jean took care of it but they would soon have to prepare Tilda for that part of life and he wasn't really looking forward to it. Bard had taken the little talk with Bain already for he didn't think that his former mother in law understood the problems of a growing lad the way he did. Judith tilted her head. "She gave her daughter hormones? Why?"

Thran made a gesture towards Judith's assets. "Ah, to increase…hmmm, apparently the judges are sick old perverts"

Judith shook her head. "Oh God, that whole pageant thing, it is like a lunch buffet for twisted people. But I see where you are going Thran, any woman would know that it is very risky to intervene with the natural maturation of a girl."

Thran nodded. "So why did she?"

Bard frowned. "Ah, do we know for a fact that she did? What if it was just something she said? Ms Buxley is after all just a saleswoman, not a doctor. And who knows what these moms say to each other, it could be something she said just to intimidate her opponents?"

Judith sighed. "Yes, it is a dog eat dog world out there and the competition within those societies is terrible, you would think that lives were at stake, not just a small amount of money and a title. Most of the families lose a lot of money, the prizes do not pay for the expenses at all"

She stared at the table where the body of the dead girl lay. "I will go over her more thoroughly now, even open her up. So see you guys later. But ask the hotel staff to go through every room. There is at least three litres of blood in there somewhere"

Bard grasped his phone and made a call to the hotel managed the moment he left the morgue, the man did sound as if he was receiving his own death sentence but promised to send the staff through every room, disguising it as an ordinary check up of the air vents.

Thran had a faraway look in his eyes and Bard gave him a soft punch. "What is it that you are thinking about now.?"

Thran grinned, "Lunch, and luxury shoes"

Bard frowned and Thran sort of scoffed. "Seriously, I am starved. But the heel strike, it don't think it was from a shoe being held and then used as a weapon."

Bard wondered how the brain of the tall blonde worked at times, he could think about so many things at the same time. "Why?"

Thran made a grimace and spread his arms. "I don't really know, but something about it felt wrong, one punch to the temple, then one to the neck, the girl would have gone down with the first one, why two? Unless they happened very fast, almost simultaneously, just pow pow and boom you are dead"

Bard stared at Thran. "She wasn't hit, she was kicked!"

Thran nodded. "Yes, by someone who knows how to deliver a lethal kick, even without high heels."

Both the men stared at each other and both said the same thing. "A martial artist!"

They sort of rushed into the office where Thor was going through the tapes with the expert he had gotten hold of, the man was rather young with a very innocent look upon his face and he wore a t shirt with a picture of the starship enterprise but the text over the image said Star Wars and the text under it said "Find one mistake" Thor looked up. "We have started, Frodo here thinks he could be onto something"

Bard leaned forward, staring at the computer screen. The young man was working with a sort of very specialized keyboard and he had joysticks and all sorts of equipment there. "Really?"

Frodo nodded. "Yes, here, see, the girl is in the elevator, she is holding something in her hand, and someone is about to enter the elevator but steps back."

Everybody stared at the screen, they couldn't see the person due to the angle of the camera but now Frodo was enhancing the reflection of the person in the brushed steel backwall of the elevator. "This brushed steel is crap, it distorts the image but we can see some things"

Bard frowned, the sort of blurry splotch of colours did reveal…two people? "It is two persons?"

Frodo nodded. "Yes, a woman in front, the one who almost stepped into the elevator and one behind her, from what I can see she is smaller and her hair is white or grey. The one in front is very dark"

Thran's eyes got narrow. "Ms Butterdale..."

Thor nodded. "Elisa has briefed me, it could be her yes"

Frodo changed the view. "Here comes the interesting part, the person who steps into the elevator and leaves it with Ianda is the same person who almost entered just a few minutes earlier but this time she is alone"

Thran frowned. "Are you sure?"

Frodo nodded, and the screen was filled with lines and numbers and stuff, it made Bard feel dizzy. "Yes, same height, same body shape, the same movements. And, I have one rather important discovery"

He turned a wheel and the colours of the image did change, became rather like those of a painting made by Van Gogh. "Her hair, she is wearing a wig and it's not a very expensive one, it is a sort of nylon I think"

Thran did look a bit fascinated. "How can you tell?"

The image expert shrugged. "It reflects light in a different manner than real human hair"

Bard leaned even closer to the screen. "So, the woman who almost enters the elevator with another person and then enters it and leaves with Ianda is a woman wearing a dark wig, wearing…green?"

Frodo nodded. "A green blouse of a sort and probably beige pants."

The two investigators stared at each other, that didn't exactly narrow it down. Thor sighed. "Ianda was murdered somewhere in that hotel and we need to find that room, before we can do anything more."

Thran was fidgeting with his pen. "They leave on the seventh floor, that woman rode the elevator from the sixth floor where she left that other person, possibly Ms Butterdale behind. I am confused"

Bard nodded. "So am I, what is going on?"

Thor made a grimace. "We need to find the crime scene!"

Frodo tilted his head, "I have enhanced the images of the thing in Ianda's hand. It is a sort of scarf or some other piece of fabric and it looks like pure silk"

Thor mumbled. "That means something, you need to find out what that was."

Bard sighed. "We have to return to the hotel?"

Thor nodded. "Yes, go have a swift lunch and then return. We need to get this sorted out asap, there are rumours flying like fucking UFO's right now."

Thran sighed and Bard made a grimace, he didn't feel like returning to that place but knew he had to. The phone called, so suddenly that all three of them jumped and Bard answered, a bit shaken. "Yes?"

The voice of Judith could be heard loud and clear. "Guys, I have news. I found fibres in the wound on the neck, leather. It was dyed blue and it was very nice leather too, the expensive sort."

Bard sighed. "We are looking for a blue stiletto? Of the pricy kind?"

Judith was chuckling" Bingo, and not just any kind. That particular colour is only used by one shoe designer, Akim Peterson, he is the new Jimmy Cho, a rising star in the designer industry. Those shoes cost a fortune"

Bard frowned. "Ah, what are we missing here? None of the moms there are that rich? I mean, Mrs Smith is well off but shoes like that?!"

Judith hadn't hung up, yet. "Bard, those are not the sort of shoes a married woman would wear, not even to show off her wealth. These are what I refer to as "Take me, I am not cheap and worth it but watch your bank account" kind of shoes"

Thor had to chuckle. "The shoes of a gold digger?"

Judith answered. "Exactly!"

Than frowned. "That friend of Mrs Smith, she wasn't married? And rather well off too?"

Bard shook his head "I don't think so, she was way too old, no, I don't think we are looking for a cougar here"

Thor waved his arms. "Go, get some food and find that crime scene, now!"

Judith did hang up and Bard sighed, the idea of food wasn't that tempting but his stomach did hurt and he knew he had eaten way too little for breakfast. He nodded at Thran. "Pete's corner?"

Thran nodded back, with a wry grin. "Pete's corner it is"

It was a small restaurant just a stone throw from the station and it was rather old but popular because the guy running it had no idea of how much people really eat so he made the portions humongous while charging very little. How he had survived in the business for almost twenty years were anybody's guess but the rumours said that he was living off money his mother had left him. There could be some truth in it for the restaurant should have headed for bankruptcy years ago.

It was the normal patrons who occupied it, local office workers, some police officers and some students from the near by college. Pete saw the two and grinned widely. "Mr Bowman, Mr Oropherson, the usual?"

Both nodded and sat down and Bard added. "And two cups of coffee and make it black and strong, we do need it!"

The usual was a sort of huge baguette with all sorts of filling and spices and if anyone had counted the calories in the thing the result would have been astronomical but Bard didn't care. It was delicious, it was enough food to make two grown men more than full and it was cheap. They both got a steaming hot baguette each and attacked like two starved lions released into the colosseum, tearing into the condemned. The coffee was just the way Bard had wanted it, so black it looked like old engine oil and so strong you almost could make a spoon stand on end in it. They didn't speak as they ate, it was a sort of silent agreement. They shouldn't ruin this precious break with work, this was their short time off and both just enjoyed the food. This day Pete had used boiled eggs, seafood, mayonnaise and lettuce plus salted bacon cut into thin slices and it was just mouth watering. Bard was sure that if there was food in heaven this was what it would be like. It was a damn thing that humans only had one stomach, it was in moments like this it would have been grand to have four like a cow.

As the two investigators were having lunch the employees at the hotel were going through the rooms, one floor at the time. There weren't that many working there so everybody had their hands full and the hotel was relatively full too so the excuse was needed. Everybody had seen the workers so they knew that something was off and most swallowed the little white lie. The workers did check the vents and told people that something could have been wrong with the air flow and that they needed to make sure that none of the guests had to pay for a room which wasn't up to standard. The workers were all afraid, none wanted to find the spot where that kid had died but they did open every door and checked every room, even the ones which were unoccupied. Nothing, not a drop of blood, no weapons, no signs of a struggle.

As the employees did work their way down through the eleven floors one of the guests were preparing for the evening. He was not there for the pageant but his daughter was studying at the local college and he had come to celebrate her birthday. The man was a car salesman, a rather jolly fellow and he had hired one of the cheap rooms with a view towards the back of the hotel. They were a part of the original building and not much had been done with them over the years, they even had their own system of heat and water since the owners hadn't found it necessary to connect that part with the slightly newer one.

Mr Bramble had planned for a nice evening out with his dear daughter and he was heading for the shower, it didn't bother him that the room was a bit worn, he wasn't going to spend all that much time there anyhow and he preferred to spend his money on his kid instead. She had just finished some important exams with top grades and it made him very proud. He stepped into the shower and turned on the taps, at first there was nothing, then the pipes started to howl and grunt and he grinned and reached for the soap, it did sound a bit like some old cars he had sold. Warm liquid started to pour over him and he closed his eyes and started to rub his skin but it felt strange, and the smell? Mr Bramble opened his eyes and then he screamed, it didn't sound very masculine at all and he grasped for a towel and ran out of the shower in a fit of absolute panic.

The guests were treated to a very special sight that day, the elevator next to the lobby opened and a man came running out of it, panic in his gaze and only a towel around his waist and he was dripping with blood. The towel was red, he left red footprints and before the desk he collapsed and grasped his chest, eyes bulging with pain. An ambulance was called for immediately and then some unfortunate cleaning woman was sent to Mr Bramble's room to check if he had cut himself or whatever it was that had caused all that blood. When the woman who's name was Dana did arrive the shower was still on and the water was just dripping but it was still pinkish and the floor was red, it did look like a scene from the movie Carrie.

Dana did run back to the lobby yelling something about the apocalypse and the four riders of doom and bloody rain and all that stuff and the clerk did try to calm her down but she was hysterical and that was when Bard and Thran returned to the hotel, stuffed with Pete's divine baguettes and more than a little sad they had to return to this place of insanity. The cleaner was hysterical still and Bard had to slap her to make her calm down long enough for them to understand her since she was born in Canada and started speaking French when she got upset. Bard turned to the clerk. "Where does the water for those rooms come from?"

The man was a bit pale too and he had suffered through the first part of the day feeling as if he suddenly was part of a horror movie, without having read the manuscript first. He stuttered. "The…the roof, a cistern…"

Thran grasped hold of one of the security guards. "You, come with us. The rest of you, close the front door"

Bard and Thran took the elevator up to the roof and the security guard was in obvious distress. "Guys, a man did shower in it, in blood. He got a heart attack right in front of the desk, came hollering, dripping with blood. That is one shitty day for sure"

Bard just sneered. "No shit Sherlock, now, where is that freaking cistern?"

The huge container was easy to spot, it wasn't deep but rather wide and it collected rain water which was filtered and then added to the water which was sent to the showers in the cheap part of the hotel. This way they didn't have to pump that much water up all the floors and as long as the water was clean there was no problem using it as long as it wasn't meant for consumption. Thran slowed down, the lid was closed but they saw a padlock and it was cut in half. "Bard…"

Bard nodded and the security guard did pull his revolver, he did look very nervous all of a sudden. "I see blood spatter"

Thran did bite his lower lip. "Yes, and a lot of it."

The entire side of the cistern was covered with red, and it had dried and started to smell already and Bard took a deep breath. He pulled out a clean handkerchief from his pocket and used it to open the lid. The cistern was dark so he had to use his phone as a flashlight and what he did see made him turn his head around and groan. "Oh Gods!"

Thran swallowed. "Alright, Ms Butterdale didn't do it, that is pretty clear now!"

The woman who floated on her belly in the middle of the cistern was most definitely the missing one and the remaining water was rather red. Bard saw that the security guard was trembling and gestured for him to lower his gun. "Take it easy buddy, no dangers here. The dead are harmless"

The security guard tried to smile. "Guess you haven't seen any zombie TV shows now have you?"

Thran made a phone call and within twenty minutes the hotel was once again flooded by cops. Someone found a pole and a technician did sort of pull the body closer to the hatch. The cause of death was obvious, a nasty cut across the throat and a huge blue bruise covering the woman's left temple. Thran swore. "She didn't drown, that is for darn sure"

Bard got a flashlight and used it to search the bottom of the cistern, the water was just two feet deep and he saw something down there, in spite of all the blood. " I need the pole"

He was handed the long thin rod and something did move down there, he sort of pushed it along the bottom and used the baton of one of the officers to lift it out of the water. It was a shoe, a stiletto. It was bright blue and very pretty but the heel was a bit bent and there was a small tear in the heel cap. He held the shoe up with a sort of grin. "I think we need to go in search for a Cinderella, not to wed but to imprison"

Thran scoffed and they bagged the shoe, the dead body was being put onto a stretcher and before long Judith did storm onto the roof with her usual brusque expression. "So, this woman did end up in the cistern. She is tiny, but she still weighs at least a hundred and ten pounds, the one who dumped her into this cistern was strong"

Thran nodded. "The idea of a martial arts performer fits with that fact"

Judith turned the dead woman's head. "Then be careful, both of you. This cut was made with a very sharp weapon, and it was done very elegantly too. The dead girl was done in desperation but this…this does look premeditated."

Bard sighed. "Right, so, we have to trace the steps of these people, the blue fabric in Ianda's hand, we can start with that one"

The hotel manager did meet them in the lobby, the hotel was under complete lockdown now and many were complaining, not all were polite about it. "All the people who have connections to the pageant are in the great hall, so I suggest you talk to them now, before the tempers flare too much. Some of those women…I bet a fire breathing dragon would think twice before attacking them"

Thran nodded and looked at Bard. "Come on, let us see if we can find out where Ianda went."

The hall was full of people, most women and girls and just a handful of husbands who looked terribly uncomfortable. Thran just walked straight up to the stage and he turned around and stared at the crowd. "As you now know there has been another murder, Ms Butterdale has been brutally killed"

There was a gasp going through the hall and many did look nervous. Thran continued. "The murder of this woman and Ianda is most likely connected and we do need your help to solve some mysteries here. Ianda did take the elevator down to the second floor, carrying something in her hand, some sort of blue fabric. If anyone knows anything about this it may be of great importance…"

Silence, everybody just stared down and Thran did look a bit like a thundercloud, goddamn it, he could look very intimidating when he wanted to, even menacing. "So?"

The voice was ice cold and everybody cringed, then a thin voice could be heard from the hall, and a girl stood up. She was not one of the participants but she was most likely a sister or something to someone who was. Bard saw that this was one awkward thing, thick glasses, a bad case of acne and she was wearing braces. "I…I know what that was…"

Thran nodded at her. "Come with us"

They sort of herded the girl into a small side room and she did look very scared, Bard couldn't help but feeling sorry for her, she was wearing some clothes which did nothing to help the image they got off her and she had long greasy hair and appeared to be terribly uncertain of herself. "So, your name and then tell us the whole thing please"

The girl swallowed. "I am Louisa Green Sir, I am the sister of Emma Green, she was among the favourites this year. Emma is very good you see"

Thran tilted his head. "It was your mother who sat next to you? And your sister?"

Bard had seen the girl, perhaps six years of age and dressed up like a mannequin doll, she didn't look real. "Yes, mom spends all her time with Emma"

Bard had to mumble something nobody heard but Thran smiled, the sort of very soothing smile which made everyone relax. "She doesn't care that much about you now does she?"

Louisa shook her head. "No, my dad was mom's first husband and I….I am not pretty Sir, I look…ordinary. Emma doesn't, so she gets all the …."

Thran finished the sentence. "Attention, too bad. So, what about the blue fabric?"

Louisa swallowed hard. "Yesterday I was trying to help rigging the stage, mom makes me help out whenever I am available. One of the girls saw that I was wearing this very old scarf made from silk, it was grandmother's and it was very nice. She just dragged it off me and ran to her mom with it, wanted to wear it for the show. I just…I love that scarf, but the mom just took it, didn't bother asking if they could borrow it."

Thran shook his head in disbelief. "That was cruel of them"

Louisa did look down, there were some tears in her eyes "Yes, and mom didn't care when I told her, she was all like – You won't need anything pretty anyhow for nobody wants to look at you- She does that quite often."

Bard had to swallow. "But Ianda had it?"

Louisa tried to smile. "Yes, she took it from that kid when they were busy rehearsing, she had seen the whole thing, And this morning she did drop into our room with it when mom was out with the brat…my sister I mean"

Thran smiled gently. "That was nice of her, she must have been quick then?"

Louisa nodded. "Yes, she just burst into the room with it and told me to hide it until we got back home, she had to get back to her room before her mom returned"

Bard frowned " Did she mention anything out of the ordinary?"

Louisa sort of frowned. "No, or, she did mention that she had seen the "old hag" and that she had been furious"

The two men leaned forth. "The old hag?"

Louisa nodded. "Yes, Cindy's mother, she is a very unpleasant person, she will be helpful and everything but she complains all the time. She should have been named Bitterdale, not Butterdale"

Thran did look intense. "So she is a very impolite one?"

Louisa nodded and looked down. "Yes, but she is very fair. She doesn't accept anything untoward if you catch my drift? She saw a judge pinch some girls butt once and she almost lost it."

Bard had to try to wrap his head around this for a moment. "She does love her daughter a lot yes? And she want her to win I bet?"

Louisa nodded. "Yes, everybody knows that. But she want Cindy to look natural, like a kid you know? She hates this style many go for these days, the kids look like whores"

Thran smiled. "Know what? I think you are a very smart girl Louisa, too bad your mother doesn't see that"

Louisa scoffed. " Mom? Oh she believes that if you are pretty enough you'll get it all right away, money, a man. And that is all that matters to her. In her mind a woman doesn't need a brain at all!"

Bard cringed. "Ouch, I thought that sort of attitude was erased in the seventies!"

Thran shook his head. "Nope, it is alive, well and kicking still, unfortunately!"

Louisa sort of made a grimace. "But I know that Ms Butterdale was in despair earlier this spring. Cindy got chickenpox before a pageant and her face had marks so she needed to use make up. She refuses to let Cindy get anywhere near anything which isn't organic and completely natural"

Bard gaped and Thran was staring at him with narrow eyes. "Is that so? Thank you very much for your information Miss, it was very useful!"

Louisa was beaming with pride. "It was?"

Thran shook her hand. "Yes, extremely so!"

Bard waited until Louisa was out of the door. "No way in hell that woman would give her daughter hormones!"

Thran nodded. "I agree, something is very fishy here. I need to make some phone calls, I will be right back"

He disappeared outside and Bard stared at the lobby, the technicians were carrying the body of the unfortunate woman out and Bard knew what Ianda had seen. Ms Butterdale had been angry with the woman with the wig, and Ianda had seen it. And later the woman with the wig had come back for her, but the time line? It hadn't been more than a few minutes apart?

Judith came walking by. "Gotten anything?"

Bard nodded. "Maybe, a clue"

Thran did return, he did grin from one ear to the other. "I have managed to get a hold of the doctor who is caring for Cindy, Ms Butterdale had the number in her pageant papers. It has to do with insurance, they need to know that the kids do have a physician in case something happens."

Bard was on edge. "And?"

Thran looked like a cat who has swallowed a fat rat. "Cindy had developed some odd symptoms over the last months, put on weight, got bad skin, her chest had grown…"

Bard swallowed and looked stunned. "Hormones?"

Thran nodded. "Yes, but in very small doses, he had no idea of where it could have come from. Ms Butterdale was very careful with anything artificial"

Bard stared at Thran, he got a terrible suspicion, his mind reeling. "Do you have google on your phone?"

Thran frowned. "Yes?"

The dark haired one nodded. "Open it, google Camille Buxley and martial arts"

Thran did look puzzled but obeyed, the phone let out a small sound. "Nothing?"

Bard tried to think. "Alright, she is miss, maybe she has been married before? Try just Camille and martial arts?"

Thran did type and the phone was silent for a while, then there was a loud buzz and Thran gaped. "Oh my…look at this!"

He held the phone so Bard could see it and lo and behold, there they saw a picture of a slightly younger and thinner Ms Buxley, holding a sort of gilded vase, grinning from one ear to the other. She was wearing a white kimono with two black belts and there were others around her wearing the same attire. Bard had to read. "A new victory for five times state Tae kwon do champion Camille Mondes"

Thran did look as if he had been looking for the light, not seeing that it was burning right under his nose. "See? There is another article here"

Bard did read the headline. "State champion out of the finals, injured again"

Thran nodded. "And look at this one"

Bard frowned. "Former state champion found guilty, accusations of drug use told the truth"

He read through it swiftly. "She used steroids?!"

Thran sighed. "Guess who our Cinderella is?"

Bard almost growled. "I think I know what this is about now, the skin cream and the make up, I bet it contains hormones"

Thran had gotten a very hard expression on his eyes. "Yes, and that is illegal. It would have made any mother pissed off"

Bard checked his gun and nodded to Thran. "Do google the "charming and flawless" make up brand, I bet the owner and distributor is none other than the charming Ms Buxley"

Thran obeyed and smiled, a wide and vicious grin. "Bingo Bard, you were right. The name Buxley came from her ex husband"

Bard waved his hands at two of the officers by the door. "You two, come here, we need some help. We have a suspect but she may try to run, and she is an ex martial artist and can be very dangerous"

The two men did look a bit stunned and Thran took a deep breath and opened the door to the hall. He did look at the crowd and frowned. "Have any of you seen Ms Buxley?"

Everybody shrugged. "She was here just minutes ago?"

Thran swore. "Is there some other doors here?"

One of the moms nodded. "Yes? Over there behind the scene, it goes into the elevators they use to transport furniture and stuff?"

Thran swore. "Right, she is on the lose"

He turned to Bard. "We have to stop her"

They ran out of the hall and stopped by the desk, the poor clerk was already convinced that this was a taste of what purgatory would be like. "Quick, the goods elevator behind the large hall, where does it lead to? Can you get out of the hotel from it?"

The clerk gaped like a fish on dry land. "Uh, yes, of course. We use it to transport heavy objects? It ends in the basement, there is a loading area down there"

Thran was impatient. "Does it lead outside?"

The clerk nodded. "Yes, you can drive a whole truck into it but there is a gate and it is always closed. You will need an universal card to open it"

Bard almost moaned. "And I bet she has got one!"

Thran yelled at the officers. "Follow us, quick!"

They ran outside and sprinted off to the parking lot where the guests parked their cars and a red sedan was shooting out of the parking lot just as they entered it. The car did burst through the toll gate and onto the road and Bard and Thran ran to their cruiser which was parked at the front of the hotel. Bard threw himself into the car and started it and Thran grasped the radio. "Attention all units, a red sedan just left the Golden crane hotel, it is driving southwards on the Sour apple lane, the suspect may be armed and dangerous but must be stopped"

Bard swore and turned on the lights and sirens and the powerful cruiser was purring, this engine was built for car chases and they shot out of the parking lot. The red sedan was not a very powerful car but it was light and it was rather apparent that Ms Buxley could drive. She was swerving between the cars and she was heading for the highway. Bard was afraid that she would reach it, the traffic was dense at this time of the day and they didn't want an accident. Suddenly two more cruisers appeared out of a sideway and the red sedan did a swift turn and headed down another road. "Where does this lead?"

Thran opened the GPS which was built into the cruiser. "It ends at the old factory district, shit, thousands of places to hide!"

Bard roared into the radio. "All units, the suspect is heading towards the abandoned factory yards by the river, she must be stopped at all costs"

The cruiser was getting closer to the sedan, Bard was preparing to do a pit manoeuvre, he doubted that the woman would be skilled enough to control the car if he did execute that perfectly. As he got closer to the rear of the sedan the woman did speed up again, the speed was insane now and Thran was frowning. "That sedan is not going to take this much punishment much longer, the engine isn't made for such abuse"

Bard nodded. "Yes, it is old, and if I don't remember it wrong that particular type of car use a heck of a lot of oil when they pass ten thousand miles."

He tried to get close again and now the road was getting more narrow and there were high fences on both sides of it. Then there was an opening up ahead and Bard cussed. "Oh shit, oh no you don't"

But the driver of the red car did see the opening and the red sedan did rush towards it, tore through the fence and then it went flying. Bard stopped the cruiser and they both ran out of it, staring at the whole in the wall. The red sedan had landed in what could only be described as a pool but it didn't contain water. This was four feet with old oil and grease and someone was desperately trying to crawl out of the pit. Bard and Thran did run down the main entrance to the yard and several cruisers had arrived and at least five officers were joining them. The creature emerging from the pit did look like something out of the black lagoon, oil and grease was dripping off her and she held something in her hand which did look like a drowned cat or something but Bard did see that it was a dark wig.

Bard did try to grasp onto her but she spun and he got a punch to his chest so hard he staggered back. Then she went for Thran and tried to kick him in the groin but now Bard saw something rather amazing. Thran sort of floated out of the way, caught the leg and flipped her around, tossed her to the ground and then he kneeled and caught her arms and one leg in an iron grip. Two of the others expertly cuffed her and Bard stared at Thran. "What the… I had no idea you could fight?"

Thran just brushed the dust off his clothes. "I have been taught Krav Maga by my body guards"

The woman on the ground was so angry she was steaming and Bard hauled her onto her feet and sneered at her. "You killed an innocent woman and you slaughtered a kid who only tried to help someone who had it hard "

Ms Buxley was shrieking, her charming appearance gone like mist for the sun and she had lost her glasses, it was rather apparent that she did see rather well even without them. "That old whore! She was onto me, she didn't want the kids to be "polluted" And Ianda that little smartass, she saw me!"

Thran did look menacing again. "Let me guess, you added hormones to that skin cream, and Ms Butterdale did find out about it when Cindy developed boobs too early"

The woman tried to spit but covered with old oil she didn't look very scary at all, the wet clothes did reveal that she had muscles still, and that she was rather buff, she just looked overweight. "Yes, it was such a good idea, it would give the kids problem skin and then my make up would cover it up and I would be there to provide them with all that they needed"

Bard sighed. "Greed, it was all greed from the very start now wasn't it?"

They hauled her off to the squad car and the owner stared at them with disbelief. "That greased up hoe is not going into my cruiser, no way!"

Bard waved his hands at one of the officers at the scene. "Go grasp that tarp over there, wrap her in it, we need to get her to the station"

Ms Buxley was screaming about police brutality when they wrapped her up and pushed her into the car, Bard and Thran stared at each other. "So, what is next"

Bard clenched his teeth together. "We have to find the exact way this happened. There is no way she had time to murder Ms Butterdale and then get to the elevator in time to catch Ianda."

Thran nodded. "You are right, there is something odd there"

They drove to the station and whence they were there they heard how Ms Buxley were screaming as two female officers did scrub her down in the showers. Thor was glaring, he didn't like this case at all and when Judith and the rest of the technicians did return Bard and Thran were ready to interrogate Ms Buxley again. She was dripping wet and wearing a bath robe and some old pants someone was generous enough to offer her. She was glaring at the two and Thran sat down and he was smiling "So, you were seen arguing with Ms Butterdale by Ianda, and you did intercept her in the elevator, but in between that you must have handled Ms Butterdale somehow"

Ms Buxley did glare at them. "I am not speaking without a lawyer"

Bard did smile . "Fair enough, I am sure I can find someone willing to represent someone who has been mixing hormones in skin cream aimed at kids, who has killed a little girl and a loving mother. I cannot promise that it will be a good lawyer but in your situation that doesn't matter, no jury will let you go. You are in for life, probably more"

Ms Buxley glared again, her eyes were shooting lightening and Thran tilted his head. "I am a psychologist Ms Buxley, I work for the feds as a profiler. And I know people and how they work, how the mind is put together. I can help the lawyer create a defence and believe me, you want me on your side in this. So spill it, unless you want me to ensure that you will spend the next sixty years in solitary confinement strapped into a nice white west with long sleeves, drooling and pissing yourself every second hour!."

Ms Buxley swallowed, she looked down. "Listen, I couldn't let that kid get away ha? I knocked that old hag out and hid her in a broom closet and then I found that little brat and tried to bribe her into keeping her mouth shut. But she refused and I snapped, I kicked her! I know I shouldn't have but she had it coming, nosy little runt!"

Thran frowned. "Where did this happen?"

Ms Buxley sighed. "A storage room, for bedding, on the seventh floor. I covered the blood with sheets, figured that since everybody would be leaving soon there wouldn't be need for new sheets for a few days and then I would be long gone"

Bard took a deep breath. "And you got her down to the basement how?"

Ms Buxley shrugged. "I used the goods elevator, and I knew that a dead kid makes people lose it so I put her behind the boiler to be found by someone, thought that nobody would look for the old hag when there is a kid missing. I had enough time to get rid of Ms Butterdale afterwards, used the elevator again. I hauled the old sough up onto the roof, slit her throat with a shaving knife and shoved her into the cistern and that was that"

Thran sighed and grasped his phone, he spoke for a few minutes and then they heard a voice confirming that they had found blood in the room Ms Buxley mentioned. And the technicians had found a shaving knife in the filter of the cistern. Bard tilted his head. "You threw away the shoe you used to murder Ianda, where is the other one?"

Ms Buxley snorted. "In the garbage, I threw that one into the garbage chute used by the staff. Goddamn it, those shoes were expensive, and sexy. I hated having to toss them away"

Bard managed to smile, and that smile made Thran hiss, he had never seen Bard looking that nasty before. "Well Ms Buxley, from now on it will be only orange for you when it comes to fashion and loafers instead of high heels."

The woman glared at him again and Thran sighed. "You will be transferred to a high security jail as soon as the trial is done, I don't think there can be any doubt about the sentence"

Ms Buxley growled. "She could have kept her mouth shut, goddamn nag! It wasn't as if I was doing any harm now was it? The little bastard of hers would grow boobs soon even without that little help."

Thran got up, he didn't even look at her. "Know what? I agree with Ms Butterdale, I totally agree, we can do without all that artificial stuff. And I bet the jury will agree too, none like the idea of having their kids stuffed full of all sorts of chemicals without them even being aware of it. I bet the lawsuits will be hefty, and nasty too"

Bard grinned. "Charming and flawless, now that is at least one thing nobody can claim that you are, not anymore"

As they left the room they both heard Ms Buxley release a swarm of cuss words so bad Thran cringed but the case was solved and Thor gave them both a thumbs up. "When it comes to it I am almost glad it was this simple and not some pervert, but what a nasty woman"

Thran sent the boss a wry grin. "There is a harpy in every woman, and in that one it had taken over. Too many punches to the head for sure"

The whole case did come to its end rather fast, since Ms Buxley had confessed the trial was organized fast and within a month she was sentenced to two hundred and forty years in jail with no chance of probation and Bard was pretty sure that she would become less than popular among the other women of that jail when they found out what she had done. The lawyer who got her case was trying her best but not even a top notch lawyer could have managed to get Ms Buxley anything less than life for the jury didn't even need five minutes to come to a conclusion, all agreed that she was guilty.

When Thran and Bard did get home late that evening they told Sigrid and Tilda about the case and made both girls swear not to wear makeup until they were good and ready for it and Judith did test one of the jars of skin cream and found that it contained so much hormones and chemicals it could have been sold as hormone enhancements for women who were struggling with the onset of menopause. No wonder it did give Cindy bad skin since she was used to a very pure environment. The girl was adopted by a sister of Ms Butterdale who had been living abroad for years and that ended very well. Mrs Smith did mourn her daughter for several months and then she started working on a project which was aiming to increase the knowledge about the effects of artificial hormones in kids and the hotel went bankrupt the next year and was bought by a property developer who transformed it into a casino, so there would be no more beauty pageants held there and perhaps that was for the greater good.


	3. Sweet child of mine

**Chapter three: Sweet child of mine…**

"I look like a freaking penguin!"

Bard snorted and stared at the mirror, his reflection was not what he was used to for he was wearing a tuxedo and it was the first time he had worn such an outfit in quite a while. Thran did grin at him from across the room. "You look spectacular dear, not silly at all"

Bard sighed and tried to smile, his face felt stiff and he would have preferred to avoid this but since he was married to a person with both wealth and influence there was no way around it. Social events like this were unavoidable. Thran did straighten his jacket a bit and checked his whole appearance, even the shoes had to be perfect. "Do I really have to do this?"

Bard's voice was thin and Thran chuckled. "Yes, Thingol is an old friend of mine and he will be very disappointed if you don't come. He has been very eager to meet you"

Bard sighed. "Curious you mean? I am sure I am way below him status wise"

Thran tilted his head. "You are an important person Bard, that is what matters to him. You do a job which protects everybody, Thingol included. He wants to remain on friendly terms with the members of the police force."

Bard growled, he felt as if he was being choked by the shirt and he felt uncomfortable. He rolled his eyes. "But I have no clue about what I am to do over there? Just stand there looking like a wall decoration?"

Thran laughed. "No, chat, mingle, have fun"

Bard scoffed. "This will be just as much fun as having the hairs on my balls plucked out with pliers, one by one!"

Thran had to laugh again. "Maybe, but the booze is free, remember that. Just don't get overly drunk"

Bard frowned. "And by overly drunk you mean?"

Thran shrugged. "Hanging from the chandelier impersonating a gorilla sort of drunk. One of the teachers from the academy did that two years ago, the servants had to discretely remove him from the fruit buffet."

Bard had to laugh and Thran grasped his hand and kissed it lovingly. "Don't worry love, it will be very nice, just pretend to be very posh and well behaved. Nobody will remember you tomorrow anyhow so just go with the flow"

Bard remembered something and had to giggle, Thran raised an eyebrow. "What are you thinking about?"

Bard blinked away some tears of mirth. "Oh I remember the party when Thor was made chief of this precinct, one of the guys got bored and started using a new name each time he did greet someone new. At the end he used completely silly names, one of the bosses spent the evening believing the man was named Jacob Kreutzfeld"

Thran chuckled. "Oh, the scientific name of mad cow disease, just in the opposite order? I have heard such pranks. One of my fellow students did present himself as Mike Rotch to the professor, it did cause some laughter. But don't do that please, I will present you as my gorgeous handsome and smart husband"

Bard had to smile. "Alright, I will do my best not to climb the bannister pretending to be Tarzan"

Thran laughed out loud. "I don't mind you doing that, but only if we are alone."

They walked downstairs and Jean stood there making dinner for the kids, she gaped, "Now that is two fine gentlemen if I ever laid eyes upon such, have a good evening boys, and remember, don't be home before twelve"

Bard smiled. "Of course not, remember to give Tilda her coughing medicine before she goes to bed, and don't let her watch that dreadful cartoon she loves so much, she learns some rather untoward language from it"

Jean giggled. "Oh don't worry. I will be stern and fair, as always"

Thran had bought a new car a while ago, a very nice one which did turn some heads and now Dwalin was acting as their driver, he was grinning from one ear to the other as the powerful engine hummed and growled. He had never believed that he would be allowed to drive this beauty. Thingol did live some miles away from the city itself, he was said to own half the city in one way or the other and Bard didn't doubt it. He was a multi billionaire and he was also very camera shy so few had ever seen him. Bard wondered how Thran had come to know him and Thran explained that he had been part of a project Thingol had started and Thran had managed to discover a fraud which could possibly have ruined the whole thing. Thingol had thought the world of him ever since. Thingol Grey did have a very nice home, or home? Bard could only compare it with a palace and it was huge, and extremely elegant. Thingol had wealth, but he did also have taste and nothing there was gaudy or over the top.

They drove up in front of the house and Thran squeezed Bard's hand. "Remember, smile, act pleasantly and I promise, I will reward you when we get back home"

Bard nodded, that did sound very promising.

A valet did open the car door and Thran did slide out of the car with an elegance Bard envied him deeply, he felt like some freakish animal as he sort of pushed himself out of the door. Thran entered the stairs with the mine of an emperor returning home from a victory and Bard tried to hold his head up and look as if he belonged there. Thingol came to greet them and Bard blinked and felt impressed. The man was very tall, even taller than Thran and he was dressed in a very simple and yet elegant grey suit which matched his hair perfectly. He could be anything from forty to sixty years of age for his face didn't reveal his age at all but Bard knew he had an adult daughter so he had to be closer to sixty. There were people everywhere, wearing clothes Bard expected cost more than his entire salary that year and some of the women there were devouring him and Thran with their eyes, some men too when he looked closely.

Thingol did hug Thran and smiled widely, he did look genuinely happy to see him. Then he shook Bard's hand and Bard was surprised to feel the strength in that grip, the man didn't just look fit, he was very fit indeed. "So this is the man who managed to catch your heart Thran? I must say you have done a remarkable catch this time"

Thran just laughed. "I do believe so yes"

Thingol tilted his heads. "From the ranks of our city's finest, I envy you Thran, but alas, I am old and no longer capable of competing for the attention of such gorgeous specimen."

He did pet Bard on his shoulder. "Well done young man, Thran is among the best people I have ever met and that says a lot. Enjoy the party and welcome to Doriath"

Bard nodded and found that he liked Thingol, the man seemed to be a very real person in spite of being wealthier than the bank. Thran did drag Bard off towards a buffet table where a valet gave them a glass of champagne each. Bard wasn't used to it, and he grimaced. "Is he…?"

Thran shook his head. "No, bi. He is married to a woman, Melian Grey. She is a world renowned botanist, currently somewhere in south America looking for some Orchid which the locals claim can cure anything from foot fungus to cancer. Thingol once confessed that he hoped that it could cure Melian's fondness of hearing her own voice to but that would be too great a miracle to hope for"

Bard had to laugh, the crowd was milling around, chatting and mingling and he felt a bit more at ease. "He does have a daughter?'

Thran nodded. "Yes, Luthien, she is promising opera singer, and she is also a physicist, believe it or not. She got married last summer, and had a baby six months ago."

Bard raised an eyebrow. "Really? I haven't heard anything about that?"

Thran sipped at his champagne. "This family is very private, they prefer to stay clear of the reporters and the internet. Thingol knows who to pay to make sure that it remains that way. Luthien and her husband are probably here too."

Bard sighed. "So, her husband, who is he? Some hot shot millionaire?"

Thran chuckled. "Heavens no, she married a man named Beren Green, he is a park ranger, worked in the national park up north when they met and of course Thingol wasn't too thrilled about that at all. He has tried to match Luthien up to someone else, someone way more suitable the way he sees it but I bet she is capable of detecting quality way better than her father."

Bard frowned. "How come?"

Thran pointed discretely at the musicians who were playing from a raised stage at the end of the hall. "See that violinist? He is the one Thingol tried to match her up with. Daeron Von Schatten, a prodigy and one of the world's best musicians. He is loaded too, from a family so wealthy I bet they never have had to do anything themselves. Too bad the lad is stupid as a piece of coal"

Bard scoffed. "What?"

Thran nodded. "It is true, I have talked to him on some occasions, he may be extremely talented with instruments but he has no clue about how he is to interact with other people. He treats them as things. I think he may have a diagnosis but of course the family is too "fine" to have something as mundane as disease"

Bard lowered his voice. "He does sound like an autist then, maybe a savant?"

Thran nodded. "Most definitely, but he can be nasty. I think he is royally spoiled and believes that the world revolves around his person"

Bard did notice that the tall dark man did play very well, the music was wonderful but he had already decided that he didn't like the musician at all. Thran suddenly tensed up, and his grip on his champagne glass tightened. Bard saw that a woman was heading their way and she was well above her youth but seemed to have forgotten about that for the dress she wore was the type which exposes more skin than what ordinarily ought to be legal. Too bad that all that skin was of the sagging kind and Bard got a terrible mental image, he had once seen a Shar Pei puppy with that sort of wrinkles. The woman wore a diamond necklace and it was so gaudy Bard wondered what jeweller it was who had forsaken all professional pride to make that monstrosity. It hurt looking at it. The woman spread her arms and ran straight at Thran who managed to put on a very forced grin. "Thranduil Oropherson, daaaarling! How nice to seeee you again!"

Judging by her speech she had either had one too many glasses of champagne already or she had suffered a stroke! Thran bared his teeth. "Lavinia, what a…wonderful coincidence!"

The woman tilted her head and stared at Bard the way a hungry pit bull stares at a huge piece of raw steak. "Ah daaarling, this must be your husband, oh sweeeetness, how perfectly handsome!"

Bard remembered his manners, he did bow politely and took the woman's hand, kissed swiftly. She wore more rings than a rap star! "Such a gentleman, you know how to get the good ones now don't you daaarling"

Thran took a deep breath. "Bard, this is Lavinia Ross, she was a friend of my father"

Lavinia giggled, it would have sounded way better coming from a seven year old girl. "Ah yes, a good friend."

Bard swallowed hard, the woman had taken a bath in perfume and it wasn't the discrete type, it made him dizzy. Thran started to look a bit desperate for Lavinia was trying to take his arm and her somewhat swimming expression told Bard that yes, she was drunk as a skunk. Then a lovely modulated voice did float in from the left and a tall and otherworldly beautiful woman did appear followed by a very handsome dark haired man. "Oh Lavinia, leave the guests alone will you? I just saw that Russian diplomat you like so much over by the pool, I am sure he is just dying to exchange some juicy gossip with you"

Lavinia let out a small gasp and it did sound very thrilled and then she shot off again, heading towards the exit. Thran let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you Luthien, that was close"

Luthien smiled. "Lavinia is unfortunately someone who has to be invited, not doing that would be a terrible insult. But father hates her guts and he makes sure that there are several bottles of her favourite wine ready in her room when she arrives."

Bard tried to smile but found that he couldn't, that Lavinia woman sounded like a really bothersome person. Luthien did take his hand, "So this is Thran's husband, I am very pleased to meet you Mr Bowman, I have heard so much about you"

Bard blushed and Thran laughed. "And believe me, none of it negative."

Beren smiled gently and Bard immediately liked the man, he seemed to be a decent person, used to hard work. Bard did bow his head and Thran sighed. "Lavinia is a countess, from England. The family is older than the hills and she owns a line of jewellery stores, she is richer than me for sure"

Luthien giggled. "And knows how to show it too, but that necklace she was wearing now, what a monster. I bet Mr Doriwich choked on his beard when she gave him that design"

Thran nodded. "Yes, he puts his pride in his work, but everything for the boss right?"

Bard stared at Thran. "So, she knew your father?"

Thran hissed and seemed to shudder for a moment. "Yes, help me God! She was part of his social circle and she tried to hook me up with her daughter"

Bard stared with huge eyes. "She did?"

Thran nodded and his face told of intense disgust. "Yes, not only is lady Selena at least fifteen years older than me but she resembles a horse and sounds like one too. Even if I wasn't gay I would run as far away from that creature as I can, she is a man eater"

Luthien giggled. "Yes, but she has learned a lesson recently"

Thran flipped his head around. "Oh? How? I believed that she was unable to learn anything at all, she is as stupid as a certain musician"

Luthien smiled wryly. "Oh but she did make a move on the wrong person, some very famous sports star, I think he is an MMA fighter or something like that. Very handsome but way too vigorous for someone her age."

Bard blinked. "Oh?"

Thran did look very curious. "Don't tell me she got more than she asked for?"

Beren did lift an eyebrow and there was a diabolical glimpse in his eyes. "She did, not only did he manage to dislocate her hip during their night of "passion" but she also had to spend some time at a very expensive clinic, a private one. Apparently he had some funny bugs and she had to use antibiotics for some months. What goes around comes around"

Luthien did take Beren's arm. "She tried to have a go at him when I introduced him to the family, Beren doesn't like Selena very much"

Thran laughed. "That explains a lot, like mother like daughter. So, how is Dior doing?"

Luthien smiled, the warm smile of a loving mother. "Oh he is doing so well, he is growing with each day and he is such a bundle of joy. The only problem is that he has gotten a stomach bug and is on medication but it will be gone in a few days. At least that is what the doctor says"

Bard smiled, "That happens yes, my kids all have a nasty cold now, there is coughing in every room. I just hope none of us adults catch it"

Luthien smiled even wider. "Children are such a joy now aren't they? But of course a lifetime of worries does come with each one. "

Bard had to laugh. "Indeed. I bet your father is spoiling the little guy?"

Luthien nodded. "Oh yes, royally. He has already given Dior a car, he won't be able to drive it for yet some years but it is ready, a miniature Audi A8, expensive as…well, you know my dad!"

Thran tilted his head. "I have heard some rumours regarding your former…ah…admirer, he didn't take it very well when you hooked up with Beren here?"

Luthien scoffed. "No shit, pardon my French but Daeron is the biggest piece of crap I have meet. His family name may be grand and everything but I think his ancestors did marry their cousins a few times too many. He can play like a God but when it comes to everything else he is a jerk, and a mean one too"

Bard did frown. "If the family is connected to the old European royal families there could be some inbreeding on the family tree indeed. "

Luthien grinned. "Oh yes, I once saw his family tree and I think he is among the very few people who can claim to be his own grandfather or something like that, it was more complex than the calculations I do everyday and some of the names did appear at least five times in different positions."

Beren chuckled. "Yes, but Daeron isn't as bad as some of his distant relatives. If I don't recall it wrong one of the family lines ended with a guy who was so inbred he didn't learn how to walk until he was eight!"

Luthien sighed "I have to go, there are so many people I have to meet, dad expect me to be the perfect hostess when mother is away."

Thran nodded his head. "It was grand meeting you Luthien"

Beren shook Thran's hand. "A small warning, the guy over there in the purple suit? He is like a tick, you can't shake him off, make sure that neither of you end up alone with him, he has submarine hands"

Bard frowned. "Submarine hands?!"

Beren nodded and grinned. "Yes, you'll never know where they will emerge, or when!"

Thran did take a deep breath. "So, let us face the enemy, smile and think about something pleasant"

Bard managed to smile. "Yes, I am ready to charge!"

Thran petted his back. "That is excellent love, never let it be said that we did shy away from battle!"

A few hours later Bard was buzzed and he felt as if his head was floating along the roof somewhere. He had a silly grin plastered to his face and managed to nod and smile and answer when asked questions. He was following Thran as if they were Siamese twins and Thran was as usual being spectacular. He really knew how to navigate the social arena and he spread compliments, tasteful jokes and friendly banter left and right. Most seemed to be completely taken by him. Bard ended up talking with a very decent chap, a man who worked for Thingol as head of security and he had the evening off and was enjoying the music. Bard did notice that the musicians had several instruments each and Daeron had what equalled to an entire truckload of huge bags and caskets. The guy had to be able to play just about anything. Bard did in fact enjoy himself for here he had found someone he could talk business with and they stood there discussing the newest developments within the field of non lethal weapons when Thran sauntered over to them. "Bard, it is time to get back home, the party is about to go airborne now and I don't think you will be as comfortable as you have been until now."

Bard raised his gaze and saw that the elegance had been replaced by behaviour he often had seen while on duty, the sort of behaviour which appears when you add huge amounts of liquor to a crowd not used to it. Two women were fighting on top of a table and a man wearing only pants and a torn shirt was standing in one of the fountains, throwing some sort of floating decorations at everyone within range. Bard had to gape. "Yes, you are right, I think we'd better get back home!"

Thran took him by the hand and they went to find Thingol. He was talking to a very elegant blonde woman who appeared to be stone sober. She was obviously very fit and she wore a very elaborate dress made from green velvet. It was both elegant and classy and probably very expensive. Thingol smiled when he saw Thran. "Ah, there you are. I have a small thing for you"

He opened a closet hanging on the wall and took out a bottle. Thran just stared. "Sir, that is…"

Thingol chuckled. "A very nice whiskey yes, I must admit that I have a soft spot for it, even though it is a bit tough on this old gut"

Bard did see that it was a whiskey which cost almost as much as a good car, Thingol had to really like Thran. Thran thanked profusely and Thingol hugged him and Bard got a firm handshake too. Bard turned to Thran as they returned to the car. "What was that all about, that whiskey?!"

Thran sighed. "Oh yes. The project I saved for Thingol, if it had gone down the drain he would have lost everything he has, but I did discover that one of the contractors had some rather dirty secrets and that he was using the money Thingol gave him to pay off debt, and the buildings were being built very cheaply. It would have been a terrible scandal if it had been allowed to continue"

Bard nodded. "Then I understand the gratitude. I wonder if Jean is up still"

Thran looked at his watch. "No, it is a quarter past four in the morning"

Bard had to gasp. "That late, ah, early? Where did the evening go?"

Thran chuckled. "Yes indeed"

They found some food when they returned to their home and then they silently got upstairs to their bedroom. Thran did keep his word, he did reward Bard in a very pleasant manner and when they fell asleep both were sated and very relaxed. It had been a very nice evening and the only negative thing Bard could think of had been some small cookies which had been so spicy the taste stayed in your mouth for hours afterwards.

Thran and Bard woke up to the sound of Thran's cell phone ringing rather loudly, and it didn't stop. Thran did rub his eyes and stared at the clock on the wall. "Seven thirty? What the fuck?!"

Bard did groan, the champagne had left him with a head filled with lead and a tongue which felt as if it was covered with felt. "We are both off duty today?"

Thran did grasp the phone and frowned. "That is Luthien's number?"

He answered and they heard a shaking voice, it was Luthien and she appeared to be close to tears. "Thranduil, oh God, I need your help! Someone has taken Dior!"

Thran sat up in the bed so fast he almost head butted Bard who was struggling against his duvet. "What?!"

Luthien was sobbing. "We were going to check in on him now five minutes ago but the crib was empty and there was a note…!"

She appeared to be hysterical and they heard a deeper voice in the background, probably Beren. He too sounded shaken. "The note said that the police had to be kept out of this, or else the kidnapper would hurt the baby…"

Bard swallowed hard. "Goddamn it!"

Thran tried to think. "Is there any demand for ransom money?"

Beren sounded as if he was about to pass out. "No, just a warning. Oh God, he needs his medicine, the stomach bug…"

Thran took a deep breath. "Calm down, breathe, gather house security, check the surveillance videos, seal off the entire property. We are coming!"

He shut off the phone and jumped out of the bed and Bard did the same on his side, he felt frantic. If someone had planned on kidnapping the child the party had been the perfect opportunity. There had been people everywhere! Bard was staring at Thran. "Shit, it must have happened not long after we left then?"

Thran nodded and got his clothes on, not the suit now, but dark jeans, t shirt and a thin jacket. Bard did the same, he jumped down the stairs on one leg and got his boots on while leaving the front door. Thran was already running for the garage, he jumped into the most anonymous car they had, a sedan which looked like the type of car a soccer mom would own but in truth it was a well camouflaged beast. The engine was changed and so were all systems. It looked like an ordinary old nag but was in fact a thoroughbred.

Thran did drive, he didn't break the speed limit but he knew how to drive very efficiently and it didn't take them long before they drove through the front gate. Luthien came running down the stairs to meet them, she was red eyed and she hadn't done anything with her hair, it was loose and hang like a thick black curtain down her back. She threw herself at Thran immediately and Bard saw that the security guards were busy, they appeared to check every bush and nook and cranny of the property. Bard tried to think. "Is the kid's bedroom close to yours?"

Beren had also appeared and he tried to calm down Luthien. "Yes, it is connected to ours, there is a door between them, and the nanny has a room on the opposite side of it. You have to get through either that or ours to get to his room!"

Bard nodded. "Have you seen anything one the videos?"

Beren shook his head. "No, the cameras have been shut off, and some have been sprayed with something, even the hidden ones. The one who did this knew the house."

They entered the mansion and Luthien did lead them towards the second floor where their private rooms were located. Thran did stare at the hallway, and Bard saw what he saw. The one who took Dior had to have been very swift and very determined for there had been guards at the top of the stairs.

The bedroom was small and cosy, the crib was a very nice one, a bit old fashioned but well made and Luthien sobbed. "The kidnapper has just lifted the boy out of the crib, blankets and everything"

Thran stared at the crib, the scene could tell a profiler a lot and Bard did trust Thran to see what he himself could not. He didn't have the gift of entering someone's mind and knew that Thran was almost able to read someone's mind, just by observing their actions. Thran did walk around the crib, stared at the entire room. He touched nothing but took interest in the windows, they were closed and there were alarms on them. "The house alarms, do you change the code often?"

Luthien nodded. "Yes, every second day as a matter of fact"

Thran mumbled and stared at the crib again, Bard could see that he was thinking very hard. "So, the culprit takes the kid, with his blankets and everything but leaves his stuffed toy? The kidnapper is not used to children, the crime is premeditated but not very well thought through. It is not a sudden decision but I feel that it is still a crime of passion, otherwise ransom would be the first thing on the culprit's mind"

Luthien gasped. "Oh God, there are…there are a lot of people who doesn't like my father, he is rather ruthless when he does his business but he has to be, he would go bankrupt if he wasn't!"

They left the bedrooms, Thran stopped in the hallway. "The thing which puzzles me is how the culprit got the kid out of here, unseen. There were people in every room, the gates were guarded and you can't just grab a kid and get away with it. "

Bard was trying to think of a way out when they did notice something odd, the hallway was rather dark but they saw a small shadow moving along the floor and Thran frowned. "Ah, do you own a cat?"

Luthien shook her head. "A cat? No? I would love to but dad is allergic, he loves cats but can't go anywhere near them."

Bard saw that the shadow did stop in front of a small door, and for a moment there was no doubt about it, it was a black cat, with a golden collar and a gold earring. Luthien did look shocked and Beren frowned. "Where did that one come from?"

The cat seemed to disappear into the darkness and Bard and Thran did run forth, they stared at the door. Luthien did look puzzled. "That is a broom closet?"

Bard opened the door, his other hand on his gun and Thran was ready too, the closet was empty. But among the brooms and other washing equipment was something which didn't belong there at all, a very nice cello. Beren cussed and Luthien did suddenly look absolutely frightening. "Oh God, I am gonna…"

Thran touched the cello. "It is perfect really, the crate this ought to be in is the right size"

Bard took a deep breath. "Daeron. He must be the biggest moron there ever was, leaving the cello like that."

Luthien almost growled. "He has had it in for me ever since I told him to get lost, but I never anticipated something like this. What is it that he hopes to achieve?!"

Thran did close the door. "To cause fear, and to feel powerful, in charge of the situation. He want's to humiliate you for having rejected him. I don't like this at all"

Beren did look pale. "Can he harm Dior?"

Thran shrugged. "Hopefully not on purpose but understand this, to Daeron people are like tools, something to use. If the kid proves to be bothersome he may just leave him"

Luthien got ashen pale and looked as if she was about to pass out and Beren had to hold her tight. "Dear. Breathe. It is alright, they will find him"

Thran turned to Bard. "We need to find the car Daeron used, and then we have to pinpoint his exact position, we don't have much time"

Bard made a grimace. "No Amber alert?"

Thran shook his head. "No, that will alert the son of a bitch that we are on his tail, I want to catch him quickly."

Bard ran over to the head of security, the man did look very distraught but he did have a good head on his shoulders and could provide them with the information they needed. "Daeron did drive an SUV, a huge Toyota. It is pale blue with glitter finish and the number plates says "Muse12" Shall I check the network"

Thran nodded. "Yes, make the call, but discretely. Ask Elisa, she may be able to locate the car. Does Daeron have a cell phone?"

Luthien nodded and gave them the number and Bard went to work. He did get a hold of Elisa and Beren found a laptop Bard did log into. The major roads had cameras and she had a program which allowed her to search for cars of a specific type. It took ten minutes, then Elisa showed them an image of a car which had to be Daeron's and it was heading north, out of the city. Thran frowned. "Where is he heading?"

Beren swallowed visibly. "Shit, the national park! He is heading for the national park!"

Bard looked at Beren. "What makes you think so?"

Beren groaned. "He knows I used to be a park ranger, and he is furious with me. I bet he wants to just drop the kid in there somewhere, he knows that none of us will be able to find Dior in there, it is a vast area"

Thran did take a very deep breath. "Right, do you have contact with the park authorities still?!"

Beren nodded and Thran became efficient. "Good, call them and tell them to close off all the main entrances, but don't let them approach Daeron if they see him. He may use the kid as a shield."

Thran did find his own cell phone and searched through the contacts. "I know someone who can help, I bet you know him too Luthien?"

She gaped, tilted her head. "You know him?!"

Thran nodded. "Yes, I helped him overcome some…issues…when he returned from the war. Is it alright with you? If Daeron leaves Dior somewhere in the park he is the best there is, he can find anyone, anywhere"

Luthien did stare at him, her eyes were large still. "Do it, call the hunter"

Bard frowned, this was something he hadn't heard anything about and he felt confused but Thran did dial and he waited a few seconds before a deep voice answered. "Yes?"

Thran's voice was intense. "Cel, it is me, Thran. We need your help. Daeron has kidnapped Luthien's kid, and he is heading towards the national park, probably to dump the lad somewhere"

There was a silence for a few second, then they heard a row of cussing so bad Bard had to gape. "By Satan's dangling testes, now that twat has done it. I will be there in five, hang on!"

Bard stared at Thran, questions written all over his face. "The hunter?"

Thran nodded and put the phone away. "Yes, a former marine, worked in the K9 units. Best tracker ever, and a man worthy of a healthy dose respect. He is no joke, the shit he has been through, you wouldn't believe it."

Bard stared at Luthien. "And you know him?"

Luthien sighed and nodded. "Yes, from before dad introduced me to Daeron, a few years earlier in fact. I met him at a dog show and I sort of spent some time with him to piss off dad, I mean, the guy is a professional killer, I wanted to rattle my old man's bones a bit"

Thran smiled. "And you did for sure. But we better be ready, Bard, ask Elisa if she has some camera's near the entrances to the national park"

Bard did send the request and Beren was on the phone, talking with the people working at the park, he had some problems making them see the severity of the situation. Bard was shocked, taking a kid to a place like that, with bears and cougars and God alone knew what else? Daeron was insane for sure!

Suddenly the front door flew open and a man entered with a dog by his side and Bard gasped and looked for somewhere to seek shelter. The dog was a giant, he had no idea of what breed it was or rather breeds but it was the size of a donkey or even larger. The man wore green and grey, and he had long blonde hair tied in a tight braid and the face was very handsome but hard, there was something in the grey eyes which gave Bard chills. This man had seen death too often, and wouldn't hesitate facing it again. Bard had seen such people before, something in them was broken, he couldn't describe it otherwise. Life didn't matter unless they could live it on the very edge all the time.

Thran walked down the stairs and took the man's hand. "Celegorm, I am so glad you could come"

The man nodded. His eyes did not rest on anyone of them for even a second, this was a gaze which analysed the situation, alert and ready for anything. Bard didn't doubt that this was a very dangerous person. He nodded towards Luthien with a more friendly expression in his eyes. "So, the amoeba has taken the kid? And he is heading towards the park?"

Bard swallowed hard. "Beren has asked them to close the gates."

Celegorm shook his head. "Won't do diddely squat, there are hundreds of backroads leading into the park, believe me. If the fucker has planned this he is probably heading into one of those smaller backroads, where there are no cabins and no rangers"

He petted the dog and the huge animal did pant, the eyes were very intelligent. "I and Huan can find him, I think I may know where the excuse for a human is heading"

Beren tilted his head. "I have the park manager on the line, the gates are closed as we speak"

Bard groaned. "Message from Elisa, no camera's, the last view of the car was at the intersection between the main highway and the road which leads to the artificial lake next to the park"

Celegorm grinned, a nasty grin. "Bingo, he is going to use the old Mule track. It is a road now but narrow and very hard to find unless you know where it is. We have better get going before he gets there and harms the kid"

Beren was ready to run to get his jacket but Thran stopped him. "No. The two of you stay here! You may do something silly if that bastard threatens Dior, we can handle this"

Beren took a deep breath. "Alright, fine, I will stay with her, but wait for a second. We have a bag here ready, with diapers and medicine and all, we were going on a picnic today and the nanny prepared everything before she took the weekend off. "

Bard and Thran just nodded and Beren did run off, returning a few seconds later with a small bag. Celegorm did look pissed off and Thran smiled at Bard. "He has got several brothers, had to baby sit a lot as a kid, believe it or not but he is good with kids."

Luthien did look terrified still and Bard frowned. "Where is her father?"

Thran shrugged. "He is at a meeting, left when the party was over, he is probably heading back right now as we speak."

Celegorm was getting impatient. "Let's go, it takes an hour and a half at least to get there"

They followed the man outside and Bard frowned, a monster of a car was parked in the driveway, he had never seen anything like it. It was a sort of pickup but it was built like a tank and he suspected that it was special made. They jumped into the backseat and the dog found its place next to Celegorm. The huge animal did look as if it knew what this was about. Bard managed to smile as the car roared to life. "Ah, what sort of dog is he?"

Celegorm spun the car around, it handled like a sportscar, which was a miracle considering the size of the thing. "He is a cross breed, there is great Dane in him as well as Irish wolf hound, Russian ovtcharka and probably a few drops of wolf blood too"

Bard swallowed, it was a dog he wouldn't have wanted to meet if he had been a criminal trying to flee the law. "So, you met Luthien at a dog show?"

Celegorm nodded as he steered the massive machine through the traffic, the cars just slid out of the way the same way the red sea had split for Moses and his wand. "Yes, she was there with her Pekingese, terrible animal, yapping constantly. But Luthien is a decent lass, not spoiled at all and very down to earth. I liked her a lot"

Bard tilted his head. "So, why aren't you two…you know..?"

Celegorm chuckled. "Dude, I am gay! I pretended to be her boyfriend just to help her piss off her father, and I did a good job with it too but to be honest, even if I wasn't gay she wouldn't be my type, too young and too dependent on being near other people. I prefer the wilds"

Thran nodded. "Yes, I remember that"

Celegorm did use the gas and the breaks like a champion, he made the huge vehicle dance through the queues. "I was part of a special unit, we used dogs to track down terrorists. It was a stealth operation, very hush hush. It was fine while I was over there but afterwards I have struggled more. I don't even get the praise I ought to since I officially didn't do anything at all. But I have a good job now, tracking injured wildlife and finding idiots who get lost in the woods."

Thran cocked his head a bit. "You didn't drive this monstrosity the last time I met you?"

Celegorm chuckled "No, a buddy of mine did build her, we used the chassis of a Humvee and some parts from other cars, she is a thing of beauty although my buddy Baldur called her "bride of Frankenstein" I call her Bouncing Betty"

Bard had to smile. "I bet there isn't much which can stop this thing"

Celegorm did grin widely. "You are right, she can survive a anti tank mine just fine and the wheels are special made too, won't go flat ever. I am very proud of her, she is my baby"

Thran leaned over. "And she drinks gas like a thirsty camel I am sure!"

Celegorm laughed. "That is the downside of it yes, she has got the engine from a Mack truck, six hundred horse powers and add two hundred when I add nitro and use the turbocharger."

Bard yipped. This car was truly a monster.

Celegorm did leave the highway and found some country road, there he didn't have to care that much about the speed limit and there was no traffic and he pushed the car but the engine did seem to just purr and Bard did see that the engine temperature in fact dropped as the car was being pushed way beyond a hundred miles an hour. The one building this beast had done a heck of a job. Celegorm did seem intense. "I knew that Daeron was a piece of shit but not that he would do something like this. I bet that his new girlfriend has made him flip"

Thran did frown, he was hanging on for dear life for Celegorm did turn the heavy car off the road and headed straight over a field, heading for another country road. "A new girlfriend?"

Celegorm nodded. "Yep, some pretty little thing, she is at least fifty percent silicone, the moron believed that she was a rich heiress but unfortunately she is a gold digger. The family used to be someone, well before the French revolution"

Thran almost growled. "Yeah, that would make him flip indeed"

Celegorm did turn onto the other road and Bard was shocked, this man did know how to drive, and not like an ambulance driver or a policeman. This guy did drive like a soldier, and he used the terrain, he did think outside of the box for sure. "There is an old road leading to the old Mule track just where it meets the main road through the area."

Bard looked at the clock, Daeron had probably arrived at the park twenty minutes ago if he had driven straight up there and God alone knew what the kid could be going through just now. Celegorm did change gears. "There is a box under the back seat, there is some weapons in it."

Bard gaped as Thran opened the box, this was all special forces equipment and Thran lifted a desert eagle calibre 50 out of the box. "Cel, do you have a licence for this? This is a weapon of mass destruction!"

Celegorm just snickered. "Of course, but I prefer my trusty bow. No sounds, no muzzle flash and I would like to see the guy who can wrestle that from me and use it against me "

Bard turned his head and now he did see a bow attached to the back of the cab, it did look like an old fashioned longbow but he saw that it wasn't wood. It had to be some sort of carbon fibre and it did look menacing, painted black with a quiver with black arrows attached next to it. Celegorm did drive like a maniac but strangely enough Bard didn't get scared. If they did collide with anyone at this speed it would be the other car which would bear the brunt of it for sure. Finally they met the road leading to the lake and Celegorm did break the speed record as they almost flew towards the old Mule track. The road was blocked with a metal gate but the gate was open and the padlock and the chain used to lock it just hung there. Someone had clearly just driven straight through the gate and it wasn't hard to guess who. Celegorm did slow the beast down, his eyes had changed. Now he was in hunter mode and Huan had tensed up too.

The road was narrow and surrounded by enormous old gnarly pines, the trees did look like some sort of twisted art and Bard knew that this was a very dry part of the park. The road ended abruptly, at a sheer cliff wall and Celegorm did stop the huge car and used his eyes. He saw the SUV Daeron used right away, it was parked behind a huge boulder out of sight and Bard saw that the hunter did pull a huge bowie knife out of his boot. He did walk over and they heard some tell tale hissing sounds, he had cut apart the wheels.

"Come on, the tracks are fresh, he was here less than half an hour ago"

Bard let out a sigh of relief, half an hour, they could still get the kid.

Thran took a Beretta out of the box but Bard had his service gun and Celegorm took the ominous looking bow and the quiver. Huan was standing by his side, the tail wagging. The hunter did walk around a bit, then he bent down, stared at the thin dusty sand. "Here, he walked here. Huan, seek!"

The dog let out a sort of growling sound and ran off. "Huan is the best tracker I have ever come across, I found him at an animal shelter, he was due to be destroyed that very day for nobody wanted him, he was too goddamn big but I saw his true self. I have never met a braver dog"

Bard and Thran did run behind Celegorm and Bard was soon in awe, the hunter knew how to track for sure. He did find the tracks even when Daeron had run across bare rock and even the smallest sign was enough for him. The track was heading into a narrow canyon and Celegorm did look tense. "Fuck, that place is a maze, and there are snakes and cats and everything down there"

Bard frowned. "And by cats you mean?"

Celegorm shrugged. "Cougars, and lynx. I have even come across a grizzly down there once. The park had hired me to find some hiker who had gotten lost, unfortunately the grizzly found him first"

Celegorm suddenly stopped, held a finger up. "Listen, I hear a kid, crying"

Thran swallowed visibly. "What do we do?"

Celegorm's grey eyes turned to flint and steel. "I have a plan, listen carefully!"

Daeron had been so sure of himself, he was going to get his vengeance and the bitch would pay. The brat had been easy to snatch out of the crib and Daeron had been in that house enough times to know where the cameras where. They would find out about it sooner or later but he didn't care. If he could make the whore pay he didn't care what happened to himself, his dad would surely fix it for him. They wouldn't put the most gifted musician of all times in jail now would they? He knew just what to do with the goddamn brat, there was a very narrow gorge ahead and he had studied the map and knew where to go but the kid had started bawling the moment he took him out of the cello casket and he didn't stop.

And the kid did stink, like a goddamn toilet and he was squirming and the darn thing had even regurgitated all over Daeron's expensive designer suit. Daeron didn't have any experience with kids and he had no way of knowing that little Dior in fact was ill and his haphazard way of carrying the poor kid only made it worse. Soon Dior had spewed all over Daeron's clothes and the musician was ready to just toss the kid inn under a bush or something and return to the car. But he was rather stubborn and not prone to changing his mind, he would drop the kid into the gorge, there it wouldn't be found until it was too late for sure.

He found his way between boulders and trees and the kid was bawling even louder than before, he held it awkwardly and tried to ignore the stench. He would have loved to see the face of Luthien when they found that little piece of shit torn all to pieces by coyotes and other scavengers. She could have had him! The greatest musician there was and she chose a goddamn park ranger? A nobody?! Oh this was so well deserved!

He stumbled over a root and then he heard a sound to his left, it was some sort of growling and he immediately thought of bears but it was no bear. It was the largest dog he had ever seen and he yipped and backed up against the rock next to him. Was this some sort of feral dog? Could it be rabid? The dog walked closer, the teeth were bared and it was staring at him with an eerie sort of determination within its gaze. Daeron squeaked and laid the kid on the ground, perhaps it would go for the smaller easier prey?

The dog ignored the kid and got even closer and Daeron lost it and ran, he bolted like a racehorse out of a starting gate and he was impressively fast considering that he normally never ran. He was heading downhill and he didn't see that he was being followed.

Bard did pick up Dior, the kid was weeping and shivering and he did see that the diaper needed to be changed and the poor little one was dehydrated too. Celegorm was busy with Daeron, they could concentrate on the kid now and Thran quickly opened the bag and found that it contained everything they needed, even a bottle with juice and some baby food. Thran had to grin. "A good thing that we both are dads, it isn't the first time we have had to change some dirty diapers"

Bard nodded and smiled "I remember when Bain was little, Sophia and I had a system of points. It determined who's turn it was to do the diaper changing"

Thran let Dior play with his fingers as Bard laid the little one down onto a blanket and found some wet wipes to clean the bottom. "Oh, how did that work?"

Bard laughed. "Oh the scale went from –Nasty, which was ten points, via oh shit which was twenty, gehenna which was thirty , holy shit which was forty and Armageddon which was fifty to Ragnarokk which was a hundred. The one with the lowest point score gathered from before had to do the diaper change the next time"

Thran did find some baby powder and added it to the butt expertly. "So, did you encounter any incidents of the Ragnarokk type?"

Bard nodded. "Once, the kid had filled his diaper and sat down abruptly. There was shit all the way up to his hairline and I am not kidding!"

Thran had to laugh out loud, it was a bit surreal, there they were, two grown men changing the diapers of a kid in the middle of nowhere while their companion was hunting down the culprit. "Legolas did have a few mishaps too, I cannot forget the one time he had gotten out of his crib and had gotten his diaper off, there was crap everywhere, he had painted with it. We had to toss away a couch, a Persian rug and two rather nice chairs"

Bard chuckled. "Oh the joy of having kids, never a quiet moment"

Celegorm was following Daeron like a shadow, he was tempted at killing the man but knew that he couldn't, too bad really. But he could scare the living bjeezes out of him and Huan was doing his job with expert precision. Daeron was being herded into a small gorge with no escape and Celegorm did hear that the man was squealing as the dog got closer and closer. Celegorm did show himself, he knew how to hide and he knew how to suddenly appear out of nowhere. Daeron let out a loud yell as he suddenly saw a tall towering figure which stood on top of a boulder, aiming a bow at him. He was gasping. "Please, the dog, it wants to kill me!"

Celegorm did sneer. "No it don't. He just want to play, I on the other hand want to kill you but unfortunately too many people know where you are. So I think I just have to be satisfied with giving you a good beating, you goddamn piece of crap!"

Daeron tried to talk his way out of this. "What, I haven't done anything to you? I was just going for a walk"

Celegorm did jump down from the boulder, the bow still steady. "Oh? You kidnapped an innocent kid you bastard. I can tolerate a lot but not that. "

Daeron stared at the dog, it was still sneering. "You know that bitch?!"

Celegorm smiled, a very nasty smile. "Oh yes I do, I consider her to be among my best friends, and you…you are something which never should have been allowed to breathe to begin with for it is pollution of this precious planet of ours!"

Daeron squealed again, he was ready to piss his pants. "What are you gonna do with me, please don't hurt me!"

Celegorm did growl. "You took the most precious thing my friend has, and endangered it so I think it is just fair that I take something of yours, something equally precious!"

Daeron backed up against the rock, he tried to find a way out of there and his mind was going at overdrive but the dog did block his exit and the huge guy hung the bow onto his back and pulled something out of his belt. It was a pair of pliers, the type plumbers use. Daeron started to scream.

Bard and Thran had changed the soiled diapers, fed the kid and given him clean clothes and now Dior was sleeping happily in Bard's arms. Thran did smile gently and helped Bard wrap a blanket around the tiny body. They had given him some medicine too and he wasn't puking anymore, if they were lucky he would sleep until they got back. Thran lifted his head, staring into the canyon. "Listen, that is the sound of justice"

Bard heard some infernal screams coming from up ahead. "Not my hands, not my haaaaands!"

Thran snickered. "Oh I know Celegorm was a master at torture, Daeron will regret he was ever born!"

Bard knew it was illegal but for once the cop was asleep. He was pissed too and the thought of this precious little one being handled by that creep made his stomach churn. Whatever horrors Celegorm did subject Daeron to, it was surely well deserved. Bard did carry the baby and Thran took the bag and they headed back towards the car and there they had to wait for a while before Celegorm and Daeron did catch up with them. Daeron was tied up and bloody and Huan was barking and wagging his tail like mad. Dior did sleep soundly now and Celegorm did smile at the kid, he did look very friendly like that but whenever he laid eyes on Daeron the eyes turned to flint once more. Bard had to gape, it looked as if Daeron had been in some bizarre accident for every single finger was broken. Celegorm smiled widely. "Such a good thing I found him in time, he had fallen down a cliff, don't you agree Daeron?"

The musician was gasping and his eyes did roll . "Yes…yes…I fell…Th…Thank you…I fell…"

Thran just shook his head, the fingers had been broken deliberately but he wouldn't say anything at all. They hauled Daeron into the dog cage which was placed in the back of the pickup and covered it with tarp. Then Celegorm started the engine and Bard and Thran found a good position in the back, Bard still held Dior and he didn't feel sorry for Daeron at all. They drove back at a leisurely pace, it was no need to hurry now and Thran did text Luthien telling her they were heading back home and that her son was alright.

They drove into the driveway and Luthien did come running again, she grasped Dior with a scream of relief and ran off with the kid to have him checked by the doctor she had called. Beren was obviously upset and relieved too, he did hug Thran and shook Bard's hands. "Thank you, thank you so much, without you guys…"

Celegorm did slide out of the car and pulled the tarp off the cage. "Here it is, the beast. Do what you wish with him!"

The door at the top of the stairs did open again and Thingol came into view, he was very angry indeed and the eyes were shooting lightening. "Is this the man who took my grandson?"

Celegorm nodded. "Yes sir, he had a small mishap down in the canyon, it looks as if he won't be able to play the violin again anytime soon. "

Thingol just nodded. "Excellent, expect a check in your mail soon, you deserve it all"

He walked down the stairs and Bard saw the hard expression in his eyes. "So you thought you could kidnap my grandson and get away with it? I am very sorry I introduced you to my daughter, I should have smelled it even back then, that you are nothing but filth!"

He waved a hand and two guards came running, grasped the man and pulled him out of the cage, not caring if he did scream in agony. Thingol turned to Thran, his face did reveal a volatile mix of emotions. "We won't need the help of the police, we can fix this in private. But if you could back me up here?"

Thran nodded. "Most certainly, Daeron is unfortunately unable to perform for some years, due to a mental breakdown, tragic stuff!"

Thingol did pat his shoulder. "Good man, I feel guilty. If I hadn't been such an idiot this would never have happened. I will take a phone call now, tell Daeron's dad the truth, I am not looking forward to it at all, his parents are decent people, I hope this won't break them"

Thran did shake his hand. "Do call us when you know if the little one is okay or not?"

Thingol smiled "Of course, thank you so much for taking good care of him"

Bard had to grin too. "It was just a pleasure!"

Thingol chuckled. "Oh I remember when Luthien was born, pleasure has little to do with it. My darling wife must have some sort of problems with her nose for the smell…ach, I can never forget it!"

Thran laughed out loud. "No dad can, believe me!"

Celegorm did lean out of the car door. "You all have my number if you need my help again"

Thingol bowed his head. "Yes, and remember, I am very grateful. You saved my grandson, I will always be in your debt."

Celegorm just waved his hand and Huan barked and they drove out of the gate, the dust made the car hard to see. Thingol sighed and turned to the two men. "Don't worry, we will take care of Daeron, he won't be allowed to harm anyone again. He is clearly insane"

Thran sighed. "Yes, I must agree there. He has flipped. "

Thingol patted Thran on his back. "Expect an invitation as soon as my wife returns from that expedition of hers, I bet she too wants to thank you both"

Bard blushed a little and Thran bowed. "We'd better get home, we didn't tell Jean where we went so I bet she is more than a bit nervous"

Thingol just smiled and turned around to join his daughter and son in law and Thran went over to their car and started it. "Damn it, if Celegorm hadn't broken Daeron's fingers I would have been tempted to do it. Piece of shit!"

Bard sighed. "I agree, to let a bout of jealousy result in that…I cannot understand it, at all"

Thran smiled, a sad smile. "Show me a sane person who can and I will quit my job!"

Jean had been very worried and was glad when they returned, in time for dinner. The kids were at school and Bard and Thran did take a long hot bath and then they sat down in the living room for some beer. Jean was cooking up something rather exotic and as the kids came storming inn through the door Bard knew that he too would have reacted rather violently if someone did threaten his children. He didn't envy Daeron, not in the least.

A week later the newspaper could tell that the famous musician had suffered an accident while hiking with some friends and that the resulting injury had caused him to collapse mentally. His family could only apologize but he was transferred to a private hospital and would stay there indefinitely. Celegorm got a very fat check indeed from Thingol and he was very pleased and Bard and Thran did receive a very nice thank you letter from Luthien and an invitation to use the Grey family's yacht the next summer, with their kids and all. Bard was thrilled and Thran even more so, the only thing he didn't look forward to was meeting Melian again for he too did doubt that the legendary orchid had been able to cure her fondness of talking. Dior did recover very well and had no lasting injuries, he was lucky that his rescuers all had been used to kids and Bard did often see the boy and he was such a bundle of sunlight. It felt good knowing that he had been part of the rather improvised rescue mission, but he never spoke of it to his kids. He had participated as a private person, not as a cop and they didn't need to know the truth about Celegorm and the pliers. No, they didn't need to know that at all, after all they were kids and he wanted to protect them from the ugliness of the world for as long as he possibly could.


	4. Profit preacher

**Chapter 4: Profit preacher…**

Gil was hurrying down the street, she was already five minutes late and that was no good. She had to follow a very tight schedule and if she got delayed it would affect all of her appointments that day. She was wiping sweat from her brow, it was a very warm day and the sun was shining from clear skies, if she hadn't been working she would have headed for the beach on a day like this.

And then there was the customer, God darn it, but she would have preferred if that appointment could have been cancelled, indefinitely. In her job she did encounter a lot of people and most of all, a lot of different dogs. She had seen them all, and she was proud to say that yes, she was a dog expert. She knew how to handle canines, of every shape and size, except the one she was going to meet in two minutes tops. Being a dog handler did require that you had people skills as much as dog skills and she was used to being around both common people and the rich and shameless as she preferred to call them. She had taken care of everything from spoiled mutts to beloved and revered pedigrees kept by poor people and she had found out that dogs are dogs, no matter what sort of pay check the owner does receive. She had to grin, she had walked Buffalo earlier that day, Buffalo was a mix breed, part pitbull and Rottweiler and the most terrifying looking dog she knew of. Too bad Buffalo himself thought he was a mouse, he was the greatest coward she had ever encountered and that dog would try to hide in a dustbin or something of equally tiny size if it saw a sparrow or a leaf which moved with the wind. The owner was a huge guy, a stuntman working for a film studio and he loved the dog to bits, even if Buffalo had only one thing in common with his namesake, the ability to run straight off a cliff in sheer panic.

Gil shook her head, Buffalo was a sweetheart really, a big teddy bear who could harm nothing. The dog she was heading for now was the opposite. It was the most obnoxious piece of shit she knew of and she had no idea of why the owner wanted to keep the menace. Even the local vet had suggested that the mutt was better off dead and that was saying a lot of that vet was very much "pro-life" when it came to dogs. He wouldn't put a dog down unless it was dying a slow and painful death. Cupcake was just vicious and Gil wondered why the dog had become such a terror, the entire neighbourhood hated it and she had seen people trying to hit it with their cars when it was running around, yapping and attacking everything which moved. Cupcake was also a cross breed, there was Chihuahua in it, some pomerian, probably also a bit of shi-zhu and the biggest contribution to the gene pool had been a pug. It was an abomination, short of breath, short of legs and when it was breathing it sounded like a beached whale. The face was one not even a mother could love and the fur…Gil had almost squealed the first time she saw it, she wondered if this dog had been the inspiration for the gremlins movie for it did resemble one, a bad one.

She stopped and took a deep breath. Mr Wormsley lived in a row of very nice apartments and his was the last one. It had a small garden on the outside of the house and Gil braced herself. When she reached the gate she knew what would occur, the hairy little goblin would come like a bat out of hell, barking and snarling and she would have to use all her agility to avoid getting bitten. She opened the gate, no Cupcake…That was strange? The dog was usually outside most of the day, Mr Wormsley was afraid it would get bored being locked up indoors and he was away working too, at least for a few hours each day. Mr Wormsley was an actor, or at least, that was what he called himself but Gil had never seen him in any movie she knew of. She stared at the entrance, the door was slightly ajar and she suddenly felt cold. The dog should have come charging by now, it had to have heard her? Was something wrong?

She walked closer, pushed the door open, not really knowing if she wanted to enter or not. "Mr Wormsley? Cupcake?"

She stopped with a yip, Cupcake was in its basket in the corner of the hallway and at first glance Gil was sure the piece of malicious fluff finally had said goodbye to this cruel world and went to make hell a wee bit more hellish but then she did see that the dog was breathing. Cupcake was asleep, snoring like an ocean steamer with open valves. Gil had to chuckle, the dog looked even more bizarre asleep. "Mr Wormsley?"

He ought to be at work at this hour, it was just past noon and he rarely returned home before five o clock. She sort of tip toed past the sleeping little dragon, it was no less dangerous than a real dragon, that was for darn sure. Cupcake had bitten her in the foot once and she had the scars to show for it still. Mr Wormsley had paid the doctor's bill and he had even offered to pay for a rabies shot, just in case. He knew that Cupcake was insane, so Gil wondered why the guy kept the snarling leprechaun. It could be that Cupcake was the sort of dog nobody in their right mind would adopt and Mr Wormsley was a very timid person, and probably very fond of the dog too, in spite of everything. At least the house was safe, she would like to see the burglar who managed to enter there unscathed.

The door into the tiny living room was open, she knocked. No reaction, alright. He had to be at home. She walked on. "Mr Wormsley? It is me, Gil. I am here to walk Cupcake but she is asleep"

The door to Mr Wormsley's office was open, she realized that he had to be there or in his bedroom and there was no way she was going to enter the latter. She knocked and entered and at first she didn't even understand what it was that she saw. When her eyes and her brain finally decided that yes, cooperation is both possible and to prefer Gil's only thought was that she never would have expected anything like that, she had encountered a lot of weird shit visiting people but this was a new record when it came to bizarre and odd. And then she passed out.

Bard was staring at the murder victim, trying very hard to keep his face neutral, Judith was making a swift exam of the body and she was whistling as she was working. The house was flooded by police and the crime scene investigators were standing in a corner, all being rather shocked. The young woman who had called it in sat in a couch in the living room, Thran was trying to calm her down and she kept telling them that animal control had to take care of the dog since it was vicious. Bard had seen the sleeping dog, it had been drugged and it did look bizarre but it was nothing compared with its owner. He sort of coughed to get Judith's attention. "Are you sure this is murder? It cannot be…you know…some rough play gone wrong?"

Judith chuckled. "Maybe, but we won't know for sure until I get this gentleman up on my table for a more thorough examination."

Bard blinked, the man was laying on his back on his own desk, with his ass on the very edge of it. His legs were strapped into a sort of leather harness which pulled the knees up and out and his arms too were strapped inn. The poor guy had not been able to move an inch. His face was contorted in a grimace of pain and terror, the eyes open and bulging and his mouth was forced open with a ball gag. Spit had dried on his chin and neck and the face was red as a tomato. The guy looked as if he had screamed himself to death. The reason was obvious, something protruded from the man's anus and it was humongous. Bard hadn't really understood what it was at first but when he realized the nature of the object he felt slightly sick. Judith was showing the photographer what to make close ups off and Bard swallowed hard. "The…object, it isn't real? It has to be a sort of replica right?"

Judith shook her head. "No, it is a real horse cock!"

One of the investigators scoffed and she rolled her eyes. "Fine, since you are of such a tender and fragile disposition, it is the reproductive organ of a male equine, better? It doesn't change the circumstances, this guy was sodomized with a horse dong"

The investigators did cringe and turn a bit grey and Bard cringed too. The thing was huge! "But…how can anyone get something like that? And…wouldn't it be…you know…limp?"

Judith just shrugged. "I suppose the thing must have been injected with something which keeps it hard? And I bet you can get this from a slaughterhouse, they sometimes sell the pieces of meat they cannot use to people for dog food. It isn't legal but who really cares as long as they are paid right?"

Bard swallowed. "He looks as if he was in a lot of pain"

Judith nodded. "Yep, so I don't think this was play gone wrong, I think this was murder, and a very vicious one"

Bard sort of hissed and returned to the living room, some dude from animal control had come for the dog and he seemed to be convinced that the dog walker was exaggerating when she said the dog was dangerous. It did look like an overgrown mop so Bard could understand that. Thran did smile at the girl who still looked very shaken. "Go home, take the rest of the day off, and if you need any help you have my number. "

She nodded and scooted out of the door and Thran sighed. "Poor thing got the shock of a lifetime, she seems to be a very nice person though."

Bard nodded. "I bet God is laughing up there, if he exist. The shit always happen to the nice people, not the asshats. So, what do you think?"

Thran tilted his head. "Well, nothing is disturbed, the living room is tidy, no signs of anyone breaking an entry, nobody has been eating or drinking anything here, the dog was sedated. This was premeditated, and very well planned. The harness and the ball gag must have been hidden in a small bag, the ..ehrm…object too."

Bard took a deep breath. "Right, premeditated and very vicious. Someone must have hated this guy, with a vengeance and a half"

Thran smiled, but his eyes were dark. "Yes, this speaks of intense anger, and hatred. But the method…I can't wrap my head around it, I think…"

Bard nodded. "Go on?"

Thran shrugged. "I cannot help but feeling that there is something almost symbolic here, a sort of eye for an eye if you catch my drift?"

Bard lowered his voice. "And?"

Thran frowned. "Look at the scene, the victim. It is a very sexual scene, and humiliating too. It speaks of such rage, such…hatred. It takes a lot to treat another person thus"

Bard bit his lower lip. "Yes, you are so right. This was personal"

Thran did straighten himself up. "So, we need to check Mr Wormsley's past, has he done something which can justify such a terrible ending? "

Bard nodded toward the livingroom. "He has a computer`?"

Thran smiled. "Right, let us check this out, it could be that we strike gold right away. Let us just hope that he hasn't got a password"

The computer was on, just in idle mode and the screen came to life as they moved the mouse, it was an elderly model and Bard sort of frowned. "This is as old as Bain, I am sure of it. I haven't seen such an ancient PC since I was dating Sophia"

Thran smiled. "This guy wasn't very rich, I bet he spent most of his income on the rent."

A document was open and Bard entered it, it was a sort of calendar and there were small notifications attached to some dates. And Thran leaned closer to the screen. "This looks like jobs? "

Bard nodded. "Yes, look here. Bakerstreet 45, Ten o Clock, cereal commercial."

Thran pointed at another one. "West Dalton street 2, Nine thirty, extra, period drama"

He frowned, "I know they are filming some movie these days, something about the depression. It could be that he gets some jobs from the movie company"

Bard cocked his head. "Yeah, for from this is looks as if Mr Wormsley barely earned enough to eat. He haven't got any regular work, that is for sure. "

Thran frowned again, tapped on the screen. "Or does he? Look, each Sunday, a note, no, two notes on some weekends"

Bard opened one of them. "East Barlington church, Eleven o clock, Reverend H Joseus. Disguise: The old man"

Both investigators stared at each other. "Disguise?"

Bard opened the other notice and it said "The usual place, four thirty. Remember the check"

Thran was intense. "He is an amateur actor, and he is desperate for work. Does this computer have internet connection?"

Bard checked "Yes, it does"

Thran was staring at the screen. "Go to youtube, search for this reverend."

Bard did and they found several videos, the good reverend H Joseus was really something, an overweight guy in his late fifties with a receding hairline and huge sweat circles under his arms and he was running around on the stage like a caffeinated chicken. A small choir stood at the back, trying to add some class to this charade. The reverend was yelling, shaking his arms, pulling the crowd with him into a religious frenzy. Bard sort of grimaced, he had seen that sort of show before. Soon the man would start asking for money to save peoples souls and bingo, at ten minutes and forty seconds the reverend raised his arms to heaven, breathing hard. "Listen, do you hear it good people, do you hear Christ calling? He is calling for you brothers and sisters, he is calling for you to help us save souls. Give brothers and sisters, give and watch saaatan squirm as the money fills our account, hear him grooooaaan in agony as we pull yet another soooouulll out of his filthy grasp!"

The crowd was rather loud, shouting hallelujah and amen and Thran rolled his eyes. He knew that this was a sort of mass hysteria, carefully built and pushed into action by the reverend. The man on stage reached out as if to embrace everyone there. "Come forth, come forth my lambs and I will heal your ailments, I will cleanse your souls"

The crowd was still shouting and the girl of the choir did look rather bored, they had to be used to this but they did sing rather well, although way too loud in order to be able to be heard at all. A person appeared in the isle, staggering forth. It was an elderly man with rather filthy clothes and he was wearing black glasses and carried a white cane. He almost stumbled in the carpet, collided with a huge decoration carrying some candles and when he was to shake the reverend's hand he missed and almost punched the reverend in the gut. Bard scoffed. "If that man is blind then so am I"

Thran nodded. "Watch"

The reverend placed his hand onto the man's head, raising his voice. "Hear me O Christ, save this man from his blindness, driiive away the demons in the name of God. I demand the blindness gone, be gone devilish disease"

He grasped the man's head with both hands and shook it so bad Bard almost expected to hear the poor bloke's teeth chatter. Then he let go and the man was shaking all over, as if he was having some sort of seizure. The reverend lifted his arms. "Go now brother, and be healed! Be healed!"

The old man took off his glasses, blinked and looked very surprised and then he sort of gasped and let out a small shriek. "I can see, I can see, I am healed. Praise the lord!"

He dropped the cane and the glasses and ran out of the church, like a kid.

Thran turned to Bard, "That was Mr Wormsley or you can call me a toad. Let us check the other videos too"

After about half an hour they had found several videos and in each and every one some person got miraculously healed, and it was always Mr Wormsley in disguise. He was once a wounded soldier, then he was in a wheelchair, he was a very old man, then a fat woman! He was a master at disguise but his height was the same each time and he didn't use the same disguise twice at the same place. The reverend did move around a bit and some creative searching on the net revealed that his preaching did create an income each year which made Thran gasp. "Oh God, the world does really want to be fooled."

Bard did open the folders on the computer and found more videos and more so, Mr Wormsley had in fact left comments on each of them, criticising his own performance. "Look, the first one we saw? "Overdone, less staggering next time, remember blind, not Parkinsons" He is trying to improve himself"

Thran nodded. "He sees this as a way of training, of another step on the way towards a real job"

Bard nodded. "Yes, but that other notice, same place? What can that be?"

Thran shrugged. "There aren't any clues left on the computer?"

Bard sighed. "Know what, we bring it back to the station, Elisa can take a look at it. If there are some hidden files here she can find them for sure"

Thran stared at the wall behind the computer, it was covered with newspaper articles, regarding movies being shot, social events and stuff like that. He tilted his head and started moving them aside, there was a picture hidden behind it all, a woman standing on a podium, carrying a huge bouquet of roses, smiling widely and waving an arm at the photographer. Bard blinked. "Ah…?"

Thran nodded "Ah indeed, I wonder…"

He took the picture off the wall, turned it around. Something was written on it with a sloppy handwriting. "Miss Dahlia, The emperor, June 19th. First place"

Thran looked intense. "The emperor is a night club, famous for drag shows, I think Mr Wormsley was a drag queen at one point of his career."

Bard felt a chill run down his spine. "Was he gay? Could this be a hate crime?"

Thran sighed. "I hope not, nothing is more dangerous than those who think that their deeds are justified, no matter how grotesque they are."

The technicians had done their job and the body was being removed and transported to the morgue, Judith had looked very eager and Bard knew that the woman had a very odd view upon what was interesting and not. He guessed her job was responsible for that. They took the computer with them and left the remaining cops with the job of closing down the building. They had work to do, if Mr Wormsley had family they had to be notified and what was that other job with no description? They would have to wait and see if Elisa and Erestor managed to find something on that computer.

Bain and Legolas were boys, and boys are the same all over the world. This day the schools were closed because of some sort of meeting which all the teachers had to go to and the kids were naturally thrilled. Jean didn't have time for the boys so they had brought Jean's new dog Perky with them out onto the fields. The farm owned a lot of land now and they loved to go around, exploring the small valleys and holts and old abandoned farm buildings. This day was very windy and they wore thick jackets as they ran around, having fun. They were heading for an old barn which lay not far from the main road, Jean hadn't used it in years but there was hay stored in it and Bard was rather sure that it contained some sort of treasure. For young lads everything interesting could be defined as just that. The barn was rather large and well built, Jean had thought about transforming it into a new stable but so far it had only been an idea, not something she had really considered. Bain did open the door, it was old but well made and it didn't make much noise. The barn was separated into two areas, one with hay and one with old farming equipment and the boys were heading over to the equipment area. There were all sorts of old stuff there, and some of it was old indeed. Bain pointed at a huge machine and grinned. "That is a horse drawn combine harvester, they needed twenty horses to make it move"

Legolas nodded and his eyes were large, he had never seen such stuff before and he was fascinated. They were rummaging around for a while but suddenly the dog started to bark. It was a young dog and rather energetic and Bain told it to be silent. Perky was a border collie and he had not yet learned how to be obedient and he was jumping up and down, staring at the hay. Bain frowned, there was something there, hanging from the ladder? It was a small piece of fabric, a handkerchief or something like that and he picked it up. Then he saw footprints in the dust. Someone had been there and it wasn't just one set, that someone had been walking around there a bit. He felt scared right away, was there a burglar in there with them? He turned to Legolas. "Legolas, there is someone here!"

Legolas froze and his eyes got huge. "Are you serious?"

Bain nodded and crouched down. "See? Someone has left that handkerchief on the ladder. And over a that table…"

There was a small table standing by the wall and there were some stuff on it, a sort of sack and a thermos and a box, probably a lunch box. Legolas whispered. "What are we to do?"

Bain did look nervous. "I don't know? Can we just…"

Legolas was squinting. "We have to check this out, there is hay here. What if that someone sets the entire barn on fire?"

Bain swallowed. He wasn't that brave now, if there was someone in there it could be some dangerous criminal, or some deranged lunatic! Legolas stepped forth. "I am light, I can climb the ladder, I won't make much noise and I am fast too"

Bain made a grimace. "Oh, okay, but be careful!"

Legolas was climbing up very fast but quietly, he was a slender boy and didn't weigh that much yet. He reached the top of the wall and peeked over it. He gestured for Bain to join him, holding a finger over his mouth. Bain climbed after his step brother with his heart way up in his throat, he felt terrified for if something bad happened he would be the one to blame since he was the oldest of the two. He joined Legolas at the top of the ladder and they stared into the hayloft, it was full to the brim and in the middle of the hay they saw someone, covered with blankets and obviously sleeping. Legolas whispered. "It is a girl!"

Bain nodded. "Yes, and she looks as if she is my age, not much older"

She was rather dirty and why was she here? A girl that age should be at home, was she a runaway? Bain swallowed hard. This was just a barn, not a place to live and it was cold there. And did the girl have food? He made a split second decision. He crawled into the hay and made his way towards the girl, she was buried in the hay with the blankets wrapped around her and Bain took a deep breath. She did look very young indeed and pretty too, with long dark brown hair and a very sweet face but her expression was one of fear and sorrow. He reached out and shook her gently. "Miss? Don't be afraid, but wake up, please"

The girl made a mewling sound, then she sort of jerked and woke up and then she screamed. Bain backed away in shock and she stared at him with huge brown eyes. "Easy, I am not dangerous. It is just…this is my grandma's barn and …you shouldn't really be in here"

The girl was trembling, she was thin, Bain saw that now, and her eyes were sunken. She did look ill. "Please…don't tell anyone I am here, please"

The voice was very low and a bit hoarse and she was on the verge of bursting into tears. "I won't do any harm, I promise, I just…I just need a place to be"

Bain sat down in the hay again. "Listen, I am not dangerous alright? I don't want to harm you in any way but what are you doing here? It is so cold here, and do you have food? I am Bain by the way, and that over there is my step brother Legolas"

The girl sniffled. "I am…Lilly."

Bain smiled. "Nice to meet you Lilly, why are you hiding in the barn?"

She pulled her blankets tighter around herself and then Bain saw something which made him gasp. "Oh God, you are…"

She nodded. "Pregnant, yes"

Bain swallowed. "Is that why…"

Lilly nodded. "Yes, mother…she want's to…I cannot tell you more…"

Bain knew that not all parents were kind like Bard and Thran, but this was just terrible. "Your mom, is she a bad one?"

Lilly nodded and looked down. "She…she thinks I am an abomination, that I have sinned. She…hates me"

Bain frowned. "What? That is terrible. But you are cold, are you well? You look so grey"

The girl sort of sighed. "I don't know, I haven't seen a doctor, mom thinks doctors are the servants of Satan."

Bain gaped. "What?!"

She made a vague gesture. "She thinks that only God should be allowed to heal"

Bain rolled his eyes. "Oh, your mother is one of those!"

Lilly bit her lower lip "Yes, and she….she will give the baby to someone else, for money"

Legolas was crawling into the hay as well. "So you fled to avoid that?"

Lilly nodded, her eyes were filled with tears. "Yes, I cannot go back to her, she is…evil!"

Bain saw that she was trembling and he reached out, touched her forehead. "You are so warm, you have a fever. You cannot stay here, you need a doctor"

Lilly shook her head. "No, please you don't understand. They will send me back to her! I cannot go back, I'd rather die"

Bain took her hand. "Listen, our dads are police officers, and if you mom is that bad nobody is gonna send you back, I promise. Grandma is a very smart woman, and very kind . She can help you, I bet she knows a doctor who will help you and not alert anyone. How old are you by the way?"

Lilly sighed. "Fifteen"

Bain gaped. "We are of the same age then. Know what, you come with us back home, grandma will get you warmed up again and she is an amazing cook too"

Lilly did blink. "Can you swear that nobody will send me back?"

Bain nodded and smiled. "Scouts honour, it will be alright. You need a good meal and a good bath."

Lilly tried to smile. "Oh a bath, I would like that!"

Legolas offered her his hand. "Come on then, we can get the blankets later."

She got out of the hay and Bain stared. "How far along are you really?"

He was shocked for her belly was very large. "I don't know really, eight months?"

She was crawling through the hay and Bain did see that she appeared to be very tired, he felt that something was very wrong, she wasn't telling them everything for sure. They held the ladder as she climbed down and she was almost wobbling as they walked out of the barn. Bain put his arm around her as they walked back towards the farm, she was limping and in the daylight they really saw that she was pale and sickly.

They reached the farm after a long and very tiresome walk for she had to stop rather often to breathe and rest and Bain nodded at Legolas. "Run ahead and warn grandma, tell her to get the bath ready and to find some food"

Legolas did nod and ran off, he was very fast and before long he disappeared into the new main building. Perky was at his heels the whole time, yapping and barking. He ran indoors and Jean was busy preparing some vegetables for dinner. She frowned. "What is the hurry young man?"

Legolas had to stop to catch his breath. "Jean, we need your help, we went to the barn and there was this girl there, she is hiding for her mom is a bitch and she needs help, a doctor I think. She is…she is knocked up"

Jean gaped. "Slow down, is there a girl in the barn? Pregnant? How old is she?!"

Legolas managed to catch his breath again. "Fifteen, please, she is sick, and she doesn't want to go back to her mom, the bi… her mom wants to sell her baby"

Jean blinked, then she suddenly got very effective. "Is she on her way over here now?"

Legolas nodded. "Yes, Bain is helping her, but please, do not let anyone know, she will run away again if she think we will betray her. She is so cold and thin and she is very very scared."

Jean nodded and they heard steps outside now. Jean opened the door and she let out a gasp when she saw that girl, she was in obvious trouble and she helped Bain push and lift her inside. Jean saw a small and cute face with way too large eyes and the poor kid was shivering like a leaf in the wind. Jean helped the girl sit down on a chair. "Now, sit here and I will get you a big cup of cocoa and then I will pour you a hot bath and find some clean clothes for you. Those rags are atrocious"

The girl stared at her with scared eyes and Jean's maternal instincts kicked inn. "Listen, I will not tell anyone you are here alright? You can trust me little one. What is your name?"

The girl tried to smile but there was such pain in her eyes. "Lilly."

Jean stroked the dirty hair. "I am Jean, let's get those cold old boots off of you and then we'll see if you can get warm again"

Jean made a cup of cocoa and added a lot of sugar, the kid looked as if she needed it and Bain did tell Jean that Lilly didn't even know how far along she was. By the looks of it she could have the baby anytime soon. Lilly did drink the cocoa as if she was starved and then Jean got her a plate of stew left from the day before. That too was eaten with ravenous appetite and Jean saw bruises on the girl's wrists. She felt how wrath started to build up within her. She smiled and Bain had been sent off to fill the tub. "If you are finished eating we can get you clean, how about that?"

Lilly nodded and Jean showed her the way. The bathroom was large and very luxurious and Lilly appeared to be in awe of the shiny tiles and the warm water as she slowly got rid of the soiled clothing. "You must be rich"

Jean smiled. "Well, I am not that rich, the house was paid for by the husband of my former son in law. They live here you see, they are the dads of Bain and Legolas and there are also two girls living here"

Lilly gasped. "Husband? Oh are they…gay?"

Jean smiled and nodded. "Yes, does that bother you?"

Lilly looked down. "No, not really. I don't think it is wicked to be gay, mom on the other hand…"

Jean sat down and took Lilly's hand. "She thinks it is wrong?"

Lilly sighed and nodded. "She thinks it is a terrible sin, an abomination. She…she thought I was…that way…so she punished me…"

Jean felt horrified, she had to close her eyes for a moment. "How did she punish you Lilly? You can tell me, I will not tell anyone unless you want me to"

Lilly hid her face in her hands. "I…I have this friend, Anna, she is so nice but we are just friends, not…you know, lesbians or anything. But mom, she…she was sure that I was…doing things with Anna. And so she had one of the guys in her church…"

Jean felt dizzy, no, this couldn't be true, nobody could be that cruel? "Oh God Lilly, don't tell me that…"

Lilly sobbed "She said that it would convert me, make me pure again, make me…normal"

Jean heaved for air, she was being overcome with emotions but first things first. Lilly needed a bath, then a doctor and then Bard and Thran would receive a phone call and she wouldn't rest until this so called mother was being punished, even if she had to take the law into her own hands. She got up. "Come now, the bath is ready."

Lilly got up and Jean was horrified, the girl was skin and bones and the stomach was very large. She did look sick, and Jean had a terrible suspicion. She helped Lilly into the water and hissed from the sight of all the bruises. "There you go dear, will you be alright on your own or do you want me to stay?"

Lilly blushed. "I can manage, please.!"

Jean petted her head. "There is shampoo and soap in that corner over there, and I have found some nice towels. Just take your time, you need it"

Lilly smiled and released her hair which had been tied into a sort of bun, she had very long hair and it did look nice but was filthy and a bit stiff. Jean left the bathroom and turned to face Legolas and Bain. "It was very good you found her, she would not have made it alone for very much longer. Now, you stay here, make sure she doesn't go anywhere. I will make a phone call. She needs a doctor I fear and I know one who won't cause us problems."

Bain frowned. "Who?"

Jean smiled. "Dr Elrond, do you remember him?"

Bain sort of lit up. "OH yes, I remember. He is the guy who managed to make Mrs Barnsley shut up about her anti vaccine campaign"

Jean nodded. "The very same. Now if you'll excuse me"

She grasped her phone and sat down in a corner, waiting for connection. Elrond was one of the best paediatricians in the city and very famous and he had been a friend of hers for years since he too was very fond of horses and had bought some foals from her. Jean swallowed, this would be a very tough conversation for sure but a needed one, she was afraid that the girl had some sort of complication.

Bard and Thran had returned to the station and left the computer in the skilled hands of Erestor and now they were heading down to the basement. Judith had been working on the body for a while and they were eager to find out if this was what it appeared to be. Judith stood there with blood to her elbows when they entered the morgue, she had an expression on her face which only could be described as disbelief. "Ah, there you are guys, I am just done. It was murder indeed. Phew, of all the shit I have seen…"

Bard swallowed. "So, cause of death?"

Judith made a grimace. "Easy to find, internal bleeding. He had been ripped apart"

Thran cringed visibly and Bard hissed. "The horse…thing?"

Judith shook her head. "No, the horse cock did block the…exit. It didn't let the blood out, but the initial injury was done with something way harder. Probably a baseball bat or something like that. And then the horse willy was stuffed in afterwards, and that wasn't all folks, no! The culprit had rubbed red pepper powder onto the willy, to make sure it hurt even worse"

Bard and Thran stared at each other, eyes huge with horror. "Oh God, that is sadism"

Judith pulled off her gloves. "Most certainly. The one who did this really wanted Mr Wormsley to suffer, a lot!"

Thran frowned. "What can make someone hate anyone that bad?"

Judith sighed. "Beats me, but I am rather sure that whoever it was must have been carrying a lot of wrath."

Bard tried to think like an investigator. "So, was there anything else you noticed about him?"

Judith shook her head. "Mr Wormsley was a healthy young man, a strong heart, no liver problems, no sign of drug abuse. The only problem he had was some bad teeth. They must have hurt like hell so he did have a terrible economy. I am rather sure that he couldn't afford a dentist at all"

Bard stared at the body on the table. "The horse…wiener, ah…"

Judith washed her hands. "Most likely from a slaughterhouse yes, it was injected with some sort of silicone material, it was hard as a…well, as a cock. I think it may have been frozen at some point in time, the tissue did seem to have thawed at least once. "

Thran sighed. "The culprit isn't from this city now is he, if he was he wouldn't need to freeze the thing"

Judith nodded. "You are right, there is a slaughterhouse here in town, a rather large one too but they don't slaughter horses, I know that for a fact. They were banned from killing equines five years ago, someone smuggled a camera inside and they saw things which…well, let's just say I couldn't watch that video without crying"

Bard nodded "I heard about that, Jean was so angry she was steaming back then"

Thran took a deep breath. "So, what do we do now?"

Bard pointed at the exit. "We see if Erestor and Elisa has found something yet, then we go to The emperor, maybe someone there knows Mr Wormsley and can tell us something useful"

Thran smiled. "Alright, let's go"

Elisa was by her computer and she was chatting with Erestor live, the hacker had apparently torn the computer apart in less time than it would take a cat to tear up a roll of toilet paper. She smiled at them as they approached and pointed at the screen. "Erestor has found that other appointment of Mr Wormsley, and several files too. It is rather…well, bad"

Thran frowned. "Bad how?"

Elisa made a grimace. "Well, I bet that he was gay, or perhaps bi right? But he sort of sold his soul here, just watch, this is just…wrong"

She pushed a button and a video opened and started playing. Bard and Thran stared at an image of the late Mr Wormsley, he was holding a bible and looked very…groomed. His hair was well combed and she was wearing a nice shirt and looked like a poster image of the perfect white male. But the things he said? Bard almost choked, how could anyone really sink this low? It was one thing to need money but this?

Thran swallowed hard. "If anyone in the gay community found out about this…"

Bard nodded. "Yes, that is…just betrayal the way I see it"

Elisa smiled, but the smile wasn't nice. It was more of a sneer really. "The one who hired him is a woman by the name of Rachel Whitley, she is a conversion therapist, or at least that is what she claims to be. I have checked her on the web, she offers to "fix" kids the parents suspect of being gay"

Thran went pale, Bard had never seen such an expression on his face before. "I have seen kids who escape from such "therapists". They usually suffer from deep psychological trauma, and it takes years to clean up the mess."

Bard felt a bit faint. "So Mr Wormsley made a living pretending to be a convert, to lure more people into sending their kids to this woman? Oh I start to feel that the murderer maybe wasn't so deranged after all"

Thran's eyes were like flint. "Alright, we will go to the nightclub and then this Rachel Whitley will receive a small visit, and it won't be a polite one"

Elisa sort of growled. "It says here, she has successfully converted at least a hundred people, and she claims to be able to cure kids of addictions and a lack of respect too"

Bard looked down, the image on the screen was of a woman with a very stiff smile and hard eyes and she was holding a bible as if it was a weapon ready to strike down onto some unfortunate sinner. "Yes, but we will bring some officers along, I am not so sure that I can keep my cools if that woman truly is such a bitch"

Thran went over to his office and got his coat and Bard got his gun too, just to be sure. Elisa waved her hand at them. "If that woman gives you trouble give her a kick from me, a hard one!"

Bard grinned and they ran down to the garage. Thran was very quiet as they drove off to the night club. It was closed at this hour but there would always be people there, cleaning and preparing the place for the night to come. Bard felt the need to break the silence. "Darling, this is bothering you"

Thran nodded. "Sure as hell it is bothering me, this whole…thing! It is just so sick, so goddamn medieval! I have seen examples Bard, people who have spent their lives believing that they are sick and twisted, that they are sinners. It has ruined so many lives"

Bard sighed, "I know, I cannot understand how these people think"

Thran frowned. "How so?"

Bard shrugged as he slowed down in front of an intersection. "I mean, they swear that God has created everything there is, and that all is under his will. Then there shouldn't be anything wrong about being the way you are created. If you follow that train of thought their homophobic rantings are blasphemy since they dare to claim that God has made a mistake and thus aren't perfect! "

Thran did look a bit confused but then he shook his head. "Oh but these people do believe that you chose to become gay, as a kid even. It isn't something you are born with, but something you chose to do"

Bard rolled his eyes. "We do live in the twenty first century and such attitudes does still exist, it is amazing."

Thran scoffed. "There are people who swear that the earth is flat and that gravity is a government conspiracy so why not? Mankind has been devolving for the last decades for sure"

They pulled into the parking lot next to the nightclub and Thran took a deep breath. "Bard, I used to go here, some years ago. Some may recognize me"

Bard raised an eyebrow. "Really? Oh now you have managed to awaken my curiosity"

Thran sort of grimaced and straightened his jacket before they went up to the employee's entrance. There was a camera there and Bard ringed the door bell and held his badge up. In less than two minutes the door was opened by a short redhead with freckles and a very cute face. He stared at the two, a bit nervously and Bard guessed his age to be somewhere in the early twenties. "Yes, how may I be of assistance?"

Bard put down the badge again. "We are investigating the death of a person we do believe was either working here or a patron of this place"

The young man nodded. "Oh, do come in. I am new you see so I don't know anyone really but Mr Farnsley, the boss, he does!"

Thran sort of hid a grimace and they followed the young man through a corridor and up a few stairs. They entered behind a stage where some stage workers were struggling with some huge speakers which obviously were to be moved and a tall dark haired man with a rather rough face and a majestic appearance were giving orders. The lad walked over and the man did appear to be a bit annoyed until he turned around and saw Thran. Then his face did split into a wide grin and he almost came running over, obviously very glad to see the profiler. "Gods, Thran, I thought you had crept into a hole somewhere and died! Why haven't you visited us? Oh, I heard that you have gotten married?"

Thran smiled, and he was blushing. "Ah yes, Boromir Farnsley, this is Bard Bowman, my husband…"

Boromir gawked, then he grasped Bard's hand and shook it, vigorously. "Oh wonderful, now how did you come by this piece of candy Thran? He is completely delectable!"

Bard blushed now, deeply! Thran tried to choke his laughter, Bard did look so shocked. "At work, we do work together now."

Boromir was still staring at Bard with the expression of a hungry squirrel who has seen some tempting nuts high up in a tree. "You had some questions?"

Thran nodded. "Yes, a Mr Wormsley? He was a drag artist, at least for a while"

Boromir sort of scowled. "Ah, him! Please, follow me, we can talk in my office"

Bard saw that Thran tensed up a bit, that had to mean something. Boromir waved his hand at the workers again. "Go on lads, those speakers has to be in the right spot, miss Ticha is performing tonight and the sound must be perfect!"

The office was just behind the stage and Bard saw that this nightclub was rather small, but the space had been used to the max and it did look very intimate and cosy. The office was so small it was barely room for three grown men there and Boromir sat down by his desk and ran his fingers through his hair, he did look a bit tired all of a sudden. "Mr Wormsley haven't been here for the last eight months, he was among our best performers but he sort of clashed with one of the divas of this place and got frozen out. And if he tried to return now he would have been tarred and feathered for sure"

Thran blinked. "People know?"

Boromir made a nasty grimace. "About the way he makes a living? Oh yes, news spreads fast here, and many sees him as a deceiver and rotten apple in the barrel. He would not be welcome, that is for sure. I take it that he was murdered?"

Bard nodded and tried to look professional. "Yes, in a most vicious manner."

Boromir sighed. "Too bad, really too bad. He was a very gifted young man, a great talent but he did always question himself and his abilities and to some, well, that sort of insecurity is like poison."

Thran nodded slowly. "Do you think that anyone here could have taken it as far as murder?"

Boromir shrugged. "I don't think so, but one of his previous friends are here now, preparing for the show tonight. You can talk to him now if you like. He may have kept some contact with Mr Wormsley after he left"

Thran smiled. "That would be good yes."

Boromir grasped his phone and dialled a number, waited for a second or two. "Burt? My office, now"

He smiled at the two. "He ought to be here asap"

They heard the sound of running feet and suddenly a slender short guy burst in through the door. "Where is the fire…oh, I am sorry"

He came to a standstill and looked a bit confused. Boromir made a gesture. "Burt, these two gentlemen are from the police, apparently someone has killed Mr Wormsley"

Burt gaped, his eyes got huge. "What? Oh goddamn it, I spoke to him…three days ago?!"

Bard blinked. "Really? Do tell please"

Burt sat down on the desk, he appeared to be truly shaken by the news. "Ah, oh lord, this is…I cannot even… well, he called me to let me know that he was planning on quitting the job for that horrible woman, uh you do know about his work yes? For that…piece of filth conversion therapist?"

Bard and Thran nodded and Burt continued. "He was getting tired of it, she treated him like shit the whole time but the pay was good, and he needed the money too. But there was something else too, I think someone had threatened him but he wouldn't say who, or why. And that woman had apparently been less than pleased when he told her he was quitting. It is hard to get someone to pretend to be a "cured" ex homo you know"

Thran nodded. "I can only imagine yes, and the staff here?"

Burt frowned. "Huh? Oh, you mean if anyone here could have wanted to harm him? Sure, we all wanted to place a boot up his rear for having taken such a terrible job but I don't think anyone would want to kill him because of it. That would be just…wrong. I mean, he was desperate and he knew that it was wrong but we have all been there right, broke desperate and ready to ride with the devil if it brings a few bucks."

Thran sighed. "Right, so then the most likely culprit is the one with the threats, and this Mrs Whitley."

Burt nodded. "Yes, please find the one who did this? It is…terrible to think about. How…how did he die?"

Thran took a deep breath. "Burt, for your own sake, you do not need to know. It is rather nasty, and I have seen stuff you wouldn't believe so believe me, you don't want this information"

Burt swallowed. "A-alright."

Boromir got up. "I will keep my ears open, if anyone hears something…"

Thran smiled, a warm smile. "That would be wonderful, thank you!"

Burt did look very sad as they left the office and Thran had a hard expression on his face. "We must go to see this Mrs Whitley now, call for reinforcements"

Bard grasped the police radio and sent two squad cars to the address, both the men were quiet as they drove off. The address was in one of the best neighbourhoods of the city and it was a grand house with several floors and a huge garden. It was very well kept but Bard did sense something the moment they drove in through the gate. Thran was lifting his head, as if he smelled something wrong there and Bard felt that tingling between his shoulder blades. Something was very wrong there. They had to wait for just a minute before the two cars entered behind theirs and four officers did accompany them up the stairs. Thran did ring the bell and after a while the grand door opened and the woman they had seen on the internet page did open the door. She did look like a person who thinks the world of herself and her attitude was very aggressive judging from the way she looked at the two investigators. Thran smiled, a very soothing smile. "Sorry to bother you ma'am but we have a few questions regarding a man who has worked for you, a Mr Wormsley."

The woman tilted her head, her eyes were dark and cold and Bard just knew it, this was a very bad person. "So? Yes, he did some work for me, but he decided to look for something else to do instead."

Thran smiled still. "And that was alright with you?"

She sort of scowled. "Yes, he was getting boring, and I had used his image too many times, I needed a new face so it was just fine by me"

Thran sent Bard a very swift glance, she wasn't lying. Bard did notice that the bench in the hallway was covered with pictures, most were of Mrs Whitley herself but there was also a picture of a young girl with long dark hair. "What lovely pictures, is that your daughter?"

Mrs Whitley sent him a rather burning glance, "Yes, it is none of your business but that is my daughter Lilly, she is with her grandmother right now"

Thran nodded. "I see, and your husband?"

Mrs Whitley scowled, and Bard remembered having seen the old movie Carrie, this woman did remind him of Carrie's mother. The same over zealous dark and condemning religion. "He left me, I bet he burns in hell. Was there anything else, officers?"

She almost spat the last word out and Thran just bowed his head politely. "No ma'am. You don't know if anyone has threatened Mr Wormsley?"

She sneered. "If someone did I bet he deserved it, goddamn sodomite, offspring of Satan"

She slammed the door shut and Bard stared at Thran who shrugged. "She is hiding something, but I don't think it has something to do with Mr Wormsley"

Bard nodded and frowned. "I think so too."

They turned around and walked down the stairs, the four other officers did return to their cars and started pulling out of the driveway and Bard opened the car door. He had a hard time accepting that such a bigoted and harsh person could live in such a luxurious place. Thran suddenly froze, a black cat strolled over the front lawn and it was heading for the entrance, where it walked through the door as if it was a ghost. Bard felt his stomach drop as they suddenly heard a loud scream followed by first two and then a third gunshot. Thran ran up to the entrance again and tried to open the door but it was locked. Bard ran towards it and kicked at the solid lock but it didn't budge. "There has to be some other entrance, hurry"

Thran ran around the corner and Bard followed, swearing under his breath. Thran was too bold for his own good at times. They found an open door which lead into a sort of living room and rushed inside, Bard first with his gun drawn. Mrs Whitley was laying on her back, her arms spread and a pool of blood was spreading around her. She was dead, nobody survives getting shot in the head in such a manner. But on top of her lay several pages from a torn up bible and the two first shots had been placed in her chest and abdomen.

Bard grasped his radio and called it inn, frantically. Thran did look at the scene and then they both saw the cat again, sauntering towards the stairs, looking at them as if it was asking them to follow. Bard nodded. "Go, we cannot do anything here now, the culprit must have used some other door."

They followed the cat upstairs, until they reached what could only be described as a loft and there the cat disappeared but they both felt it, a stench of excrement, fear and unwashed bodies. The doors were locked with padlocks and Bard heard faint sounds coming from inside of the two rooms. There were no keys there but Thran did find a crowbar in a box of tools someone had left behind and snapped the locks off with a grunt. Bard opened the door hesitantly, the room was pitch dark and he turned on his flashlight and the beam revealed at least seven pairs of eyes staring at them from narrow cots. The room was freezing cold, it stank and the seven kids were all chained to the beds. Thran moaned and Bard had to turn around, so this was Mrs Whitley's conversion therapy, he had seen images of prisoners from world war 2 KZ camps who had looked way healthier than these seven boys.

Jean had managed to get a hold of Elrond, the doctor was coming over and he had almost exploded when Jean explained the situation. Lilly had gotten dressed again and she did look a bit better but not much. The dirt was gone, not the emaciated look and the fatigue in her eyes. Jean started to prepare dinner, Tilda and Sigrid would get home soon and she knew that the girls would be hungry. Sigrid had taken her sister shopping and their grandmother reckoned that the girls would have more than enough to talk about this evening. Bain and Legolas were sitting by the door, they took their orders seriously for sure. Jean had almost finished the huge kettle of soup when a car appeared, it was a nice one but not overly so and the man who stepped out of the car was somewhere in his early fifties and looked very distinguished with long dark hair which only had a few streaks of grey and kind grey eyes. He wore a rather worn suit and appeared to be upset still. He sort of straightened himself up before he walked over to the door and knocked. Lilly did look nervous at first but Jean just smiled and calmed her down. "It is no danger dear, it is the doctor I told you about remember? He is very nice and will help you"

Jean opened the door and Elrond stepped inside, he was carrying a small suitcase and he saw Lilly and smiled, a very warm and soothing smile. Jean saw that his eyes darkened though, and he put the suitcase down. "Hello, I am doctor Elrond, and you must be Lilly? Nice to meet you young lady"

Lilly did swallow and tried to smile, but she was too nervous and it became a grimace. "N…nice to meet you too"

Elrond sat down next to her. "So, you don't feel well? And you are worried about your baby?"

Lilly just nodded and Elrond looked at her. "You are way too thin, and you look very pale and grey, haven't you seen the sun for weeks?"

She shook her head. "Mom…mom kept me locked up…"

Elrond sent Jean a look filled with quiet rage. "That is too bad Lilly, but we will do all we can to help you. First of all, may I examine you? I will take your blood pressure, listen to your heart, maybe take a blood sample and listen to your baby's heartbeat?"

Lilly started to shiver a bit. "A-alright, here?"

Jean shook her head. "No, we do have a room where it can be done, come on."

Jean showed them the way to a small guestroom and she waited on the outside. After a while Elrond did exit the room and he was holding his phone. "She needs to be taken to a hospital, as of right now! She has got eclampsia and a bad case of inflamed kidneys too, she is a mess poor child"

Jean swallowed. "Is it really possible that she was raped?"

Elrond nodded. "She confessed everything to me, the father is a member of her mother's congregation, a forty one year old father of five! She was not even fifteen when it happened. I am hauling these people to court, that is illegal sexual contact with a minor goddamn it"

He punched a button and they heard a voice at the other end. "Yes?"

Elronds voice was pressed. "It is me, listen, we have a patient coming in soon, in critical condition. Fifteen years of age, eight months pregnant and with severe eclampsia."

The voice answered. "Roger that, we will be ready"

Elrond turned to Jean. "The mother is a conversion therapist, and from what I could understand Lilly isn't the only kid she treats like this. Could you call your son in law and tell him of this? The mother is Rachel Whitley, and Lilly has been on the run for more than a week but her mother haven't done anything to find the girl"

Jean almost sneered. "I will call them right now, just save her please? She is a sweet kid"

Elrond nodded and Lilly exited the room, she had been crying but Jean bent over and hugged her. "Listen, you go with doctor Elrond and he will fix you and make sure that you and the baby are alright, afterwards you can come back here, is that a deal?"

Lilly just nodded and Elrond took her hand and lead her outside, before long he took off and he had an extra light on his car which he turned on, telling everybody that this was an emergency vehicle. Bain did look nervous. "Is she gonna die? What is wrong with her?"

Jean sighed. "It is very serious but Elrond will fix it, I am sure he will. Her body is…it is sort of being poisoned by the baby, the blood pressure gets way too high and the systems sort of shut down, but it can be stopped."

Bain swallowed hard. "Oh, it sounds terrible, she is just a kid, like us"

Jean sighed and embraced both boys, "Yes, and this should never have happened to her but you two are heroes for bringing her over, if she had stayed in the barn she could have died for sure."

Bain did blush and Legolas giggled, Jean picked up her cell phone and dialled Bard's number, she was feeling rather agitated and pissed off, hoped that she would be able to stay calm while explaining the situation for the two investigators.

Bard and Thran had discovered that the room which filled the other half of the loft was filled with kids too, girls all of them. The situation wasn't much better for these poor little ones and the children were terrified and confused too. Bard was in shock, how could anyone do something like this? What parents sent their children off like this? He had seen the propaganda video's Mr Wormsley had played in, but this woman had to have used even more resources than just videos. There were twelve children there in all and most were shivering with cold and trembling with fear. Bard had called everyone, even the social workers which were working in this precinct and after just twenty minutes the first ambulance pulled up in front of the house. They had to divert the traffic of people away from the murder scene and Thran found a pair of strong pliers and managed to remove the chains from most of the kids. They were from four to sixteen years old and many did look as if they had been beaten. One kid of perhaps eight years of age was crying the whole time and writhing on the bed, he was in obvious pain. There was a sheet of paper hanging at the end of each bed, with some information and Thran took the paper and read it and he went pale. The boy was wailing and Thran did lift the thin white nightshirt all of the kids were wearing. The boy was wearing some sort of barbaric contraption around his genitals, in fact it was a sort of metal container which housed both the scrotum and penis and it was strapped on tightly. Bard read the paper too, the kid had been sent there by his parents for they had seen him touching himself. Bard felt faint. "I thought this sort of thing was a thing of the very distant past"

Thran nodded. "Me too, no wonder he is in agony."

Bard shuddered, with that metal thing on even the slightest swelling had to hurt like hell and the boy was feverish and barely able to speak at all. There was a hole in the contraption but it was unlikely that the poor lad had been able to urinate at all with that thing on. The police officers did lead the ambulance people through the hall and made sure that nobody did disturb the dead body and now there were people running everywhere, bringing down kids and searching through the house. One of the social workers was an elderly woman with a stern face and a terrifying temper but Bard knew her and she was a very kind soul, she just didn't budge when some kid's wellbeing was in jeopardy. Morwen Black had worked for the child protective services for years and she stopped and stared at Bard, her eyes were dark and her chin thrust forwards, she did look like an angry bulldog. "This…I have never…Too bad that bitch is dead for I do so much wish I could have rammed my boot up her arse."

Bard nodded. "Indeed"

Another of the social service workers came running. "Folks, come here, you have got to see this"

They followed and entered a small office, it was filled with papers and a couple of computers and the woman did punch on the keyboard and the screens came to life. "See? She was having her own web page, and she was sending adds to all sorts of churches and societies she believed would fall for her message"

They saw a video of Mrs Whitley and she was bragging a lot, and using a lot of quotes from the bible. After the video there was a price list and Thran did whistle. "Damn it, no wonder she was loaded! Just look at that! How can anyone afford such treatment unless they are fucking rich?"

The young social worker did lift a folder. "Here we have the "treatment regime" of each kid, it is like reading a horror novel, just way worse. "

Thran sighed " We saw the poor lad with the…metal contraption on his genitals, was the woman insane?"

The woman nodded and Morwen was moaning, she was skimming over the papers and her face got more and more pale. "That thing was used on boys which had been caught masturbating, for girls the bitch used carbolic acid, on their clitoris"

Thran swallowed hard. "This was torture, sheer torture"

Morwen frowned. "The late Mrs Whitley did have a daughter? We do not have her registered at any schools"

Bard nodded. "She claimed that the girl was with her mother"

Morwen did frown even harder. "Mrs Whitley's own mother died two years ago, and she was completely senile at the end. "

Thran moaned. "Right, then we have to look for a missing teenager as well"

Bard stared at Morwen and the other woman, they were gathering the papers in huge bags, everything had to be investigated for if the parents had known that their kids were going to be treated thus they would lose custody of the child. Bard was considering going over to help the CSI Technicians when his phone rang. He saw that it was Jean's number and felt nervous right away, she would never call him at work unless something was very wrong and he answered with his voice trembling slightly. His jaw dropped in disbelief as Jean told them of the incidents back home, Thran heard too and Morwen did swear. "Oh goddamn it, if there is a hell, I hope the bitch is frying right now!"

Bard swallowed. "Jean, do tell Bain and Legolas that they were heroes, and keep us updated. And…don't tell Lilly that her mother is dead just yet, alright? It may upset her"

Jean agreed and hung up and Bard had to close his eyes. "Having your own daughter raped, to prevent her from becoming a lesbian? If there ever was something which completely lacks any form of logic…."

Morwen sighed. "These files are terrible reading, judging from the number of folders she has had at least eighty "patients" here. I cannot comprehend why she wasn't exposed earlier"

The young woman shook her head. "Oh I know why, the kids would be way too terrified to reveal anything at all. But I bet that she has left a trail of broken souls"

One of the technicians did manage to catch their attention. "We do have determined where the murderer entered the building, there is a small door in the kitchen, and the lock was picked, very expertly. There were fingerprints on the door knob, we are checking them as we speak"

The technician then returned to his work and Bard hoped that the finger prints were in the system somewhere.

Thran frowned and tilted his head. "Mrs Black, tell me, Mrs Whitley was married yes? Her husband…? "

Morwen made a vague gesture. "Couldn't have done this, he is in jail. I checked the family the moment the call came now and he is behind bars for grand theft auto, breaking an entry, physical assault and for having shot at a police officer. He won't be out in another twenty years."

Bard tried to think. "So, it isn't the husband then. But then who?"

Morwen slammed the huge pile of folders down onto a table, her eyes were blazing. "Know what? Check these files, I bet you find the murderer in here."

Thran did look puzzled. "What makes you say that?"

Morwen raised her chin, defiantly. "Because I see families every day Mr Oropherson, I see them at their best and their worst and believe me, there is no thing on earth more dangerous than a parent who is trying to defend their child, or avenge it"

Thran stared at Bard, his eyes were large. "That is it Bard, I am bloody sure. I bet that Mrs Whitley has damaged some kid so bad one of the parents snapped"

Bard nodded. "Yes, you may be right. "

Morwen smiled, but her eyes were dark still. "You check out the names, I will have a hell of a job now, calling parents and determining whether or not they are fit to be parents at all. And more so, finding temporary homes for more than a dozen traumatized kids"

Bard scoffed. "You don't need to check the parents, the kids being here in the first place is evidence enough the way I see it. Sending your kid off because he or she has been playing with themselves? Or because you suspect that he or she may be gay? "

Morwen sighed. "I know Bard, and believe me, I agree, but there is this little thing called a court and such cases do usually end up in one. There is gonna be some serious shit flying soon, believe me. They will need a freaking jet engine and a trailer full of shit to outdo it"

Bard took the pile of folders, it was heavy and there had to be at least fifty names in there. Thran cocked his head. "Know what? We split the heap, I will take one half and I saw a nice couch on the patio, we can read there"

Bard sighed deeply, but he followed Thran and they did sit down. It was not the kind of reading he preferred, in fact it made the hairs stand up on his back. What sort of attitude did these people have? What beliefs and not the least, what sort of knowledge? He was disgusted by everything he read and Thran was swearing constantly, trying to stay calm. "I cannot believe this. "for not saying grace at breakfast, five lashes with the whip" She did beat the kids, she must have been very sick"

Bard growled. "More like evil, truly evil!"

They kept reading and put aside folders which could indicate that the kid in question had gotten into trouble later on, after an hour they sat there with five folders and Bard stared at them. "So, which one do you think is the most likely candidate?"

Thran shrugged. "I don't know, they are pretty terrible. But wait a minute, I have an idea"

He pulled out his phone and opened google, then he typed in the first name. Nothing happened, then he tried the second one and after five minutes they had two names which had come up with more information. One suicide and one case of death as a result of assault. Thran stared at the names, "Right, we have Benjamin Cooper, age fifteen, died two years ago. He hung himself. Then we have Dorothy Nielsen, age thirteen, was attacked by some kids and died as a result of having fallen off a roof"

Thran looked at Bard. "So, your gut instinct says?"

Bard took a deep breath. "The boy, let us check him out"

Thran smiled and started typing again and then he showed Bard the result. "He was sent to Mrs Whitley by his mom, who lives on her own some miles north of the city borders. She is divorced and has been since the kid was five."

Bard got up. "We may be wrong, but let us speak to this Mrs Cooper, at least we may learn something. "

Thran shuddered. "Yes, like what makes a mother send her child off to a bloody kz camp!"

Jean had been worried for quite a while and she jumped when the phone rang, it was Elrond's number and she grasped the phone with trembling hands. "Yes?"

Elrond's voice was calm and confident at the other end. "It is me, I have good news. We have managed to stabilize her, but she is probably going to give birth early, we are trying to get as much nutrition into her as possible."

Jean released a gasp of relief. "Oh that is wonderful, but Elrond, I have some news. I spoke to Bard, it is bizarre but…they are working on a case which involved Lilly's mother and …Mrs Whitley has been murdered"

There was an odd sound coming from the phone, it did sound a bit as if Elrond was choking, then she heard a row of cusswords worthy of a sailor. "Oh that is terrible, too bad. I so longed to drag her ass to court, well, we have the name of the child's father so someone is gonna be laid on the chopping block, I won't let this be forgotten"

Jean had to smile. "Good, you will probably be contacted by the social services, they will need your testimony too I bet."

Elrond sounded as if he was growling. "Oh and they are gonna get it, I am not gonna hold back, the poor girl has been abused in every way imaginable. She will need a long recovery before she is normal again"

Jean hesitated. "Uh, what about her baby? Can she keep it? Would that be safe at all?"

Elrond didn't hesitate. "She has to keep it, taking it from her will be a disaster. With the baby there she will have someone else to think about, something which will take her thoughts away from everything which have happened to her. The baby will keep her stabile"

Jean sighed. "Then make sure that you are very clear about that."

He could be heard chuckling. "Don't worry, I will make it very clear that taking the baby may cause her to become suicidal. She will have plenty of help, I don't worry about her baby at all"

Jean did hang up after having said goodbye, she felt slightly relaxed but nervous still. Bard had sounded as if he was very upset and she knew that it took something very bad to rock his calm personality. She just hoped that they would be able to solve this mystery as fast as possible, she wanted both of them back home for she was sure that there would be plenty of questions coming from Sigrid and Tilda and the boys too would need some more information in order to calm down.

Thran and Bard did call Thor to report the latest development, then they headed out of the city and found the address of Mrs Cooper. The house was dark and there was no car there, the lawn hadn't been mowed and there was trash gathering in front of the garage. Bard grimaced. "Doesn't look as if she is at home?"

Thran shrugged. "Nope, the house looks almost abandoned. "

They turned around and were about to head back to the car when an elderly man wearing a pair of very baggy pants and a worn shirt with tobacco stains hailed them. "Are you looking for Mrs Cooper?"

Thran did nod. "We are, we are from the police."

The old man nodded. "Doesn't surprise me, she is not here you see, she went bonkers last May and was placed at St Catherine's. "

Bard had to think for a second, then he remembered that it was a hospital for mental illnesses. " Oh, what happened?"

The old man shrugged. "You know, she wasn't right in the head to begin with and when her kid offed himself she lost it. I mean, we all know what she did to him, sending him off to one of those goddamn leeches who preach about the bible and God but think about their own wallet first and foremost"

Thran frowned. "So you know of that?"

The old man nodded. "She was bragging about it you see, claiming that this woman would cleanse her son of the "evil" which had possessed him. She was convinced that he was gay and I don't know what was done to him but when he returned he was broken, and I did fight in the war and saw shell shocked men by the hundreds. That lad was way worse off."

Thran cringed and Bard felt slightly sick. "But, you say she was admitted to that hospital, what happened to her?"

The old man scratched his thin beard. "She went berserk, at the local Wallmart. She attacked a couple with a small kid and claimed that they were breeding demons for having had a kid outside of wedlock and then she tried to tear the jacket off a small boy since it was pink. And she did try to hit a couple of guys with a tent pole, thinking they were a gay couple, which they weren't. They were marines enjoying a day off and they subdued her rather quickly and she won't get out of there for at least a few years. Absolutely psychotic."

Thran raised both eyebrows. "Oh my god, yes, that is psychotic behaviour at its worse"

Bard tilted his head. "She is divorced, what about her ex?"

The old man smiled. "Ah, Jared, he was a good man, way too good for her. She wasn't like this to begin with you see, she was normal and they were a happy couple but then she started getting these religious ramblings."

Thran was curious. "Do you know what caused it?"

The old man nodded. "She lost a pregnancy, and believed that she had done something wrong and needed punishment and so it began, the whole fucking mess"

Bard sighed. "I see, you shouldn't happen to know where the husband is?"

The old man sighed. "He was in the army for years, the last thing I heard was that he was stationed somewhere abroad, was it Afghanistan? He tried to keep in contact with Benjamin but she shut him out completely. He wasn't even welcome in his son's funeral, that woman is rather stone hard ha?"

Thran turned to Bard. "If he is in the army they have his fingerprints on record, they should be able to check them against the ones they found in Mrs Whitley's house!"

Bard nodded . "I am on it."

He did text the technicians and after just four minutes he got an answer, they matched, they had entered the army data base to find the prints. Thran swallowed. "So, Jared Cooper is the one who killed Mrs Whitley, did he kill Mr Wormsley too?"

Bard took a deep breath and shrugged. "We need to find out, we need to find him first though"

The old man was almost tap dancing in one place, he was very eager. "Check the pub by pier eleven. That was the place Jared used to go to when he was upset."

Bard did smile and shook the old man's hand. "Thank you sir, you have been very helpful"

Thran did look a bit nervous. "Are we going there right now? Just like that?"

Bard nodded. "We enter as normal civilians, no badges or guns. If Jared had wanted to kill us he could have done it when we were at Mrs Whitley's house, he had to have entered while we were talking to her."

Thran nodded slowly. "I agree, but why now? There is something odd about this whole thing"

Bard smiled and took his hand. "Yes, that is true but I don't think this man is a danger to anyone anymore, I think he got the ones he wanted"

Thran sighed. "Let us hope so"

The pier was by the river and it was transformed into an area of rather hip shops and the pub was in a back alley. It was a very brown pub and not very large. Bard and Thran did enter slowly, Bard had his gun ready under his coat and Thran walked behind him. There was just one man sitting by the worn bar, and Bard swallowed hard. Now they knew why Jared Cooper had acted now, this was a dying person. The man was rather tall but extremely skinny and his skin was grey and sagging. He had no hair left and the face was oddly scarred and the eyes laid deep in their sockets and he did look like a ghost. A hat laid in the chair beside him and he saw them and nodded. "It didn't take you long"

Bard walked over, slowly, never taking his eyes off the man. "Why? "

Jared Cooper laid both hands on the bar, they were skin and bones but they could see that he once had been a strong and handsome man, a real fighter. "Do you have kids?"

Bard nodded. "Yes"

Jared tilted his head, it looked as if the small movement would be enough to break his neck. "Then you know what it is to love someone more than yourself, more than anything. Benjamin was my life, and she did all she could to keep him away from me. I didn't fight her, not really, for I was afraid that she would hurt Ben if I insisted."

Thran was calm but his eyes were blazing. "And then she did hurt him, a lot"

Jared nodded. "Yes, crazy bitch! I wouldn't have minded at all that Ben was gay, heck, he could have been bi or trans or whatever, I would have accepted it for he was my son goddamn it. But she…she…"

He hid his face in his hands. "She sent him to that goddamn hypocrite, to transform him! And he came back completely ruined, the lad was afraid of his own shadow, and so filled with shame. I was in Afghanistan when it happened and there was nothing I could do. I wasn't told about his death until someone saw the news and called my captain. I didn't even get to say goodbye"

Bard swallowed. "That…is terrible"

Jared sighed and stared at the glass on the desk in front of him. "So, I wanted to avenge him, by removing that filth from this earth, she has ruined so many lives, I didn't want her to continue to destroy more children."

Thran cleared his voice. " And Mr Wormsley?"

Jared made a grimace. "Oh, him! I hated that guy. Not because he was gay but because he participated in it! Willingly! He let that bitch use his face and his voice to earn money from idiotic parents who swallowed every word he said whole. My wife had seen one of those video's. Seen how he sat there, pretending to be an ex gay who had been turned away from the "darkness" by the loving counselling of Mrs Whitley. She saw how he claimed to have been cured, to have been cleansed, and she believed him when he claimed that everyone can be cured, of something which isn't even a disease to begin with!"

He sobbed and Bard felt insecure for the first time. "You killed him in a very vicious manner? And threatened him too? "

Jared almost sneered. "Yes, because he deserved it. I shot Mrs Whitley for she was just insane, she couldn't help that she was evil. But that goddamn coward, I wanted him to suffer, like my son suffered, like so many other innocent kids suffered. Did you know that she would use a huge butt plug on the boys they suspected were gay and cause them so much agony the mere thought of having something stuck up back there would freak them out completely afterwards? I thought it was sweet justice to make him hurt the same way. Yes I did send him some threats, just to make him squirm, soften him up for the final blow."

Thran cringed, the man's voice was very flat, emotionless. He was a damaged human being. Bard sighed. "You must have planned it well!"

Jared nodded. "For a couple of months, I started when this … started"

He pointed at his bald head. Bard had to blink, it did hurt looking at the man, he was such a mess. "What is it?"

Jared sort of shrugged. "A very aggressive form of cancer, eats me alive. They think it was caused by some of all the shit we were exposed to over there, but the doctors don't know for sure. I have less than a month left."

Thran stared at the man with some respect. "So you wanted to seek justice for your son before the end, that doesn't make it right, at least not in the eyes of most"

Jared sighed. "I know, I have killed but my conscience is clean, I did remove some vermin from this world. Well, Mr Wormsley was perhaps not vermin but he was a culprit, if he hadn't let that cunt use his talents as an actor fewer would have become convinced of her skills, and fewer kids would have suffered. My only regret is that I waited this long"

Bard took a deep breath. "Mr Cooper, you are under arrest for the murder of Mrs Whitley and Mr Wormsley"

He nodded. "I know, just let me finish my drink. It will be my last one for sure!"

Bard shrugged and the man tossed the content of the glass back. "Salute, here's to death"

Jared got up from the chair, stood there like a trembling sack of skin and bones and then he collapsed onto the floor. Thran grasped onto him and the man trembled a few times and moaned and then he stopped breathing. The body convulsed twice and became still and Bard stared at the corpse with disbelief. He grasped the glass and sniffed it. "Bitter almonds, it was cyanide"

Thran did look at the dead man with some sadness. "He died like a soldier after all, on his feet, with his boots on"

Bard called it inn, then he sat down and felt odd. It was strange but he did pity Mr Cooper and he did understand why the man had done this. The only thing he couldn't quite understand was the level of brutality Jared had used against Mr Wormsley but Jared had been a soldier in a very brutal war. He had most likely been just as injured as his son, just on a different level. Bard and Thran sat by the body until the coroner came to take it away, neither of them said much.

It did take quite a lot of talk to explain all of this to the kids and Bard spent many days interrogating parents. Most didn't know that Mrs Whitley did torture the children but some did and were convinced that it was the right thing to do. Morwen did take care of those kids immediately and the case got a lot of publicity. There were several lawsuits made against the late Mrs Whitley and so her money went to pay for the damages she had caused. It was a very nerve wrecking process and Bard and Thran were exhausted when it was all over with.

Lilly gave birth to a girl two weeks later, she was a very brave one and did act in a very mature manner. The midwife was impressed. Elrond had arranged for Lilly to stay with a couple he knew and Lilly did visit Jean quite often and became like an adopted granddaughter. She did reveal that she was going to study to become a mid-wife and everybody did support her. After a few months she did look normal again and she was thawing and learning a lot, she and Sigrid became good friends and she was told by both Bard and Thran that she was always welcome there, and that they would help her as much as they could. She didn't go to her mother's funeral, in fact the reverend and the grave digger was the only one who were present so it was a very lonely goodbye to this world.

Elrond did drag the father of Lilly's baby to court, and the whole thing became a rather toxic mess for it turned out that Mrs Whitley had used the same method on some other girls, believing that being fucked by a man would prevent them from wanting to be with a woman. The man did confess after a while, Elrond had suggested that he was sent to a prison infamous for the short life expectancy of rapists, child abusers and such. He was sent off to some other prison instead for having confessed and he would stay there for the rest of his life and then some. The rest of Mrs Whitley's congregation was also investigated and quite a lot of filth was revealed. The whole case did take four whole months to investigate and the newspaper were revelling in the juicy details. It was not very likely that they would be able to assemble again and their attitudes were publicly condemned by the mayor himself.

Thran did not forget the case though, one Sunday the tall blonde did pull up next to a local church and wandered inside. He did look very angelic that day with the long blonde hair loose and he strolled up the aisle as if he had every right to be there. The fat sweaty preacher was staring at him, the tall stranger had interrupted him right in the middle of the best part of his speech. Thran smiled to the congregation and raised his arms. "Your preacher claims that he can cure the sick, and that he can perform miracles."

Thran turned around and walked over to a small bent man with a wide hat and a leg which appeared to be crippled. He was using two crutches and he did look a bit grey. "So, what do you say mister? Are you ready to be healed?"

He leaned down and whispered. "You see, I am from the police, and I give you five seconds to leave this church before you go down for participating in a fraud"

The man jumped up, the crutches flied in opposite directions and the man sprinted down the aisle like a top athlete down a track. Everybody gaped and Thran tilted his head. "See? Everybody can make miracles, even a worn out old cop like me. You wouldn't believe he was paralyzed the way he ran ha?"

Thran pulled a pair of handcuffs out of his pocket and his grin became wolfish. "And now Mr Preacher, do you have any more miracles stuffed up your sleeve? For you are gonna need them mister, in special when the judge sees the nice video's you have posted, and the tax authorities? Oh my, they are gonna love your real accounting, you are going down you see, deep deep down where your profit preaching cannot help you at all"

The preacher did moan, then he did try to run but tripped in his microphone wire and landed on his belly, for a moment he did look like a stranded whale. Thran did put the cuffs on him and Bard entered with the rest of the officers on the case. "Well done partner"

Thran did brush the dust off his hands. "I have wanted to do that for weeks!"

Bard just grinned as the other cops did haul the preacher away. Thran had been fuming for days and this was just what he had needed, a little hands on action. Boromir had told them that the preacher had a new man working for him and at least one more menace was off the streets, people wouldn't lose their money to this leech and no more kids would suffer at the hands of Mrs Whitley, and thus there was justice in the world after all.


	5. The music of the night

Chapter 5: The music of the night…

The club was packed, there wasn't any room left whatsoever and the guard at the door had already had to ask several people to go somewhere else, they couldn't fit anyone else into this place. They were already breaking every safety regulation there was and the manager was sweating. If something did go wrong tonight his ass was on the line for sure. Club Boom was relatively new and not that well known, it was located in an area of the city not exactly well known for high end clubs and they wanted to change that. Boom was supposed to be a club where everyone was welcome and they wanted to combine concerts and performances with nice surroundings and an accepting atmosphere. That was why the band they had hired for this night was one of the lesser known ones, they called themselves Stonewashed black and played a rather aggressive form of metal. The manager had his doubts but the music was popular and even if I it didn't have a huge crowd those who did come to the concerts were die hard fans of the genre. He had never seen that much black leather and spikes before, the room did look a lot like a black hole now, black clothes, black make up, black everything.

But the money was rushing inn and the manager could only hope that later gigs would bring just as large a crowd, this would most certainly put their name on the map and if that meant having to deal with people who saw black as the most attractive colour that was then be it. Some of the women out there wore what he could only guess was liquid paper smeared all over their faces and the clothing? He had visited a few fetish shops in his days but this? Man o man, it was the wet dream of anyone attracted to black leather, that was for sure. The band was good, they were a rising star among the countless amateur bands and the singer did have talent. He was well known for having an insane vocal range and right now he was head banging while the lead guitar player were showing off his skills with a very vigorous riff. Like it or not, this music did have a very powerful rhythm.

The lead singer's name was Billy Jasper and he was studying to become an architect of all things but today he was pushing that part of his life aside and on stage he was better known as Raw, he had gotten that nickname due to his voice. The stage wasn't large but it was a good one for such gigs and they had decorated it according to their image. A blow up doll had been placed on an upside down cross at the back of the stage between the drummer and the keyboardist and some old fashioned wicker baskets had been placed along the edge of the stage to hide the crates which contained the pyro effects which would be used in their final act. Someone had sprayed the baskets with fake blood and someone had even managed to get some cardboard heads from a local theatre, they didn't look very realistic but that wasn't the point, in the dim light they were realistic enough.

Raw was growling his way through the lyrics of one of their most popular songs, the atmosphere within the club was electric and he was having the time of his life. The crowd was singing along and he was giving it his all, this was what life was all about, the sheer joy of knowing that they all were watching him and sharing this experience. He put his foot up on one of the boxes, the lyrics entered a part where he was supposed to really let loose and howl and he was preparing for it. Being a metal vocalist did in fact require a lot of training, if you weren't prepared you would ruin your vocal cords in no time and some of the best had just as intensive a training behind them as any opera singer. There were several baskets placed around this box and one of them tipped over, a severed head did roll out of it and stopped against the box with the pyro effects. Raw didn't look at it at first for it was just a prop but as he started on his roar he did look down just once as he took inn enough air to finish the roar and his eyes did widen.

At first he thought "this is a sick joke" but then he realized that this was no joke and the head was real. Worst of all, he knew who it was and the roar became a scream which would have made the take off roar of a jet fighter seem pathetic. The crowd went wild, this was beyond anything they could have anticipated, the speakers were moaning and the rest of the band threw surprised glances at each other, what the fuck? Was Raw trying to ruin his voice? The crowd couldn't see the head which was staring up at Raw with empty eyes and the vocalist did stagger backwards and stumbled. There were wires all over the stage and his foot got tangled in one and he fell backwards and disappeared from view like he was some magician and not a singer.

The crowd was screaming as one, this was amazing, the best concert ever!

Raw managed to get to his feet, then he dropped the mike and puked all over the tall spiked leather boots the lead guitarist was wearing, the guitar player just gaped in shock and then he saw what the vocalist had seen and if the singer had produced a sound nobody could believe that a human throat was capable of making his guitar did now conjure up a sound which made several of the speakers say a cruel goodbye to this fair world and several of the concert goers did hear naught but ringing for days afterwards. The keyboardist saw the head as well and screamed and the drummer looked like a question mark until someone pointed at the head and then he tried to stand up a bit too fast with the result that he managed to tip the entire drum set. The sound was interesting, but not very nice, nor very rhythmic. The crowd cheered, this band did really go all the way, they had never seen anything like this, not since someone had started throwing pieces of pigs carcasses over the crowd at some concert years ago.

It took more than an hour to calm the crowd down and when the managed finally got an explanation he called the cops but not before he had discretely managed to get half of the crowd out of the back door. A dead guy was bad, getting fined for having overfilled the club was worse. Secretly he was rubbing his hands in glee, a club where some metal dude had been murdered, oh that would draw a crowd, most certainly. Sex and death, those were the big sellers and he just hoped that they wouldn't have to stay closed for too long.

Bard and Thran had been finishing the paper work on a rather straight forward case of vehicular manslaughter when Thor called them, they were the only ones available and Bard had really looked forward to a quiet night but no such thing was to be had now. They arrived at the club with a few other officers and a hearse and of course Judith. She was looking eager and Bard couldn't understand how she could do her job without going bonkers. They had to wait for a few moments before the police officers managed to get the concert goers out of the way, they didn't want people to leave until they had questioned them. Bard stared at Judith. "You look excited?"

Judith nodded. "Oh yes, a decapitation. Those are rare, and it can tell us a lot about this murder"

Bard frowned. "Really?"

She nodded. "Just you wait and see, you cannot just cut someone's head off without revealing a lot about yourself"

They were let inn and the officers showed them the way to the stage. It had been cleared but the head and the baskets were still there and Thran was staring at the decorations with a narrow smile. "I don't think they anticipated a real head, I hear the singer lost it?"

The officer in charge of the scene nodded. "Yep, the bloke and the band are in the wardrobe as we speak, he puked his guts out and the rest of them are rather pale, and I don't mean their make up!"

Judith was bending down, the head lay next to a box with a danger sign on it and she examined the wicker basket it had been hidden within. She frowned. "See? No blood here, except the fake one. The head was placed here well before the concert"

Bard turned towards the man who was responsible for the stage, it was a young fellow with shoulder long blond hair and teeth which made him look a bit like a beaver. "Who had access to the stage before the concert?"

The guy grimaced. "Uh everybody? We rigged the stage early this morning for we were busy later in the day and everything just stood here for like, twelve hours?"

Thran sighed. "And during that time, did anyone who doesn't belong here enter the building?"

The guy shrugged. "The hell if I know? The doors were open. Listen, before a gig like this there are people running to and fro all the time, we have people preparing the wardrobes, some who are refilling the bar, some caterers, the band's families, fans who try to get an autograph and …you see? "

Thran nodded. "I get it kid, but did any of you who work here see anything out of the ordinary?"

The young man tossed his head, pointing at the crowd. "With people like these, define "out of the ordinary" please. If someone walked in here wearing a suit and tie that would be out of the ordinary for sure but nope, nothing was different enough for us to notice"

Bard stared at Judith, she was examining the head and she grinned. "He was decapitated well before he was placed here, I do believe he has been dead for at least twenty four hours"

Thran turned and stared at her. "Based on what?"

She pointed at the eyes. "The viscosity of the liquid within the eyes, but look here"

She turned the head so the bloody neck came into view, Bard felt that his dinner wanted to return to daylight and forced himself to swallow, hard! "See? This was done by someone who was determined or desperate, it takes a lot of power to cut through a neck and this person was brutal and yet not completely without skills"

Thran turned around, slightly green and the officer who stood next to them was walking away, making some odd gulping sounds. "What do you mean?"

She sort of slid a gloved finger along the cut skin. "When people think of decapitation they usually think about things like swords, and axes or even one of those barbaric contraptions from the French revolution, it all leaves a clean cut and it cuts the bone as well as tissue. That cannot be achieved with anything like a kitchen knife for sure"

She turned the head slightly again. "See? The person has had to move the cut a bit upwards to find a weak spot between the vertebrae to sever it. He didn't use a power tool for sure, but a rather sharp knife, I bet it was a meat knife but the initial cut was made by something rather broad"

Bard frowned, the thing had already started to smell and he felt like retching, again! "Like what?"

Judith shrugged. "I have no idea, it could be a meat cleaver? An axe? I need the rest of the body to be sure, and of course the scene of the murder. "

Bard nodded. "Right, we have to find the rest of this dude, the band knows who he is?"

The officer who stood at the edge of the stage nodded, he didn't turn around to look at them, Bard could see that he was struggling to keep his cools. "Yes, they are waiting for you guys"

Bard took a deep breath, a black metal band, this could get interesting for sure. The wardrobe wasn't far from the stage and it was packed, the band consisted of seven members and then there were some roadies and a make up girl who sat on a table at the back of the room looking shell shocked. Everybody look up as they entered and Bard did blink when he realized that a couple of the guys in fact had been crying, either that or that make up they were wearing had been wreaking havoc on their eyes. "I am Bard Bowman, I am the investigator in charge of this case, now, I am told that you know who the victim is?"

The singer nodded, he blew his nose into a handkerchief and was red-eyed and shivering. "Yes, it is Nidhogr"

Thran frowned. "A what?"

The man swallowed. "Sorry, that is his stage name, his real name is Wayne J Dale, he used to the lead singer of another band, Infernal Combustion."

Thran looked as if he was fascinated. "That stage name, I think I have heard it before?"

The vocalist tried to smile. "It is from the Norse mythology, it is the dragon which gnaws at the roots of the world tree, Yggdrasil. He thought that was cool you see. His band was mythology based, they were very good too"

Thran nodded slowly. "Alright, so he is Wayne J Dale and what else can you tell us?"

The guitar player choked a sob. "I cannot believe that he is dead, man, he was the nicest guy ever! He let me borrow his guitar when mine had to be repaired and …we did love him, we did all love him"

Bard stared at Thran and the lead singer sighed. "Listen, everybody thinks that we who play this sort of music are a bunch of arseholes right? That we run around murdering each other but that is so unfair. We are a small community and everybody knows each other, the music binds us together man, like nothing else."

The make up girl nodded. "Listen, they speak the truth. I do the make up for a lot of commercial bands too and if you want complete assholes go check them out. Arrogant empty headed bastards most of them. These guys on the other hand? I have never had any problems with them at all, they are all so very nice. Nidhogr was the kindest man you can imagine. He could scare the shite out of the devil himself while on stage but otherwise? He is the kind of a guy who would sacrifice himself to save a puppy!"

Bard sort of sighed. "So, he was a good guy, we get it, but he is dead nonetheless. Do you know anyone who would want to harm him?"

They all looked at each other, faces rather blank. "No, I don't think he had any enemies at all, I mean, who would want to harm a man like that?"

The drummer was wearing a sweat drenched t shirt and he shivered, he had to be rather cold for the room was chilly. Thran stared at him. "So nobody has any idea of anyone who has a grudge against this guy?"

The make up girl shrugged. "He does have an ex wife but they parted on friendly terms, no hard feelings there at all. She could perhaps tell you more?"

Bard smiled. "That would be great, yes,. What is her name?"

The make up girl frowned. "Samantha Larkinson, she lives in Freeway drive 89 C. I was there a few times to help compose their looks for a gig"

Thran squinted. "Their looks?"

She nodded. "Yes, Sam was also a member of Infernal Combustion for a while, she played a Bodhran. But she quit after a while, she had two jobs and didn't have the time."

The vocalist blew his nose again. "Wayne lives in an apartment now, I think the address is Chesterstreet 74 E. It is a small place but he doesn't need more, at least that is what he says. "

Bard nodded. "Did he have a job of some sorts, besides the metal I mean?"

The singer sort of frowned. "Well, metal isn't a job man, it is a lifestyle, a sort of statement, a state of mind, but yes, he did have a job. He did work at the local animal shelter, it is a non kill shelter so they try to rehome every animal they get."

Bard stared at Thran. "The head was placed here, deliberately. Why?"

Thran shrugged. "I have no idea? To throw us off the tracks?"

The keyboardist did raise a hand, like a kid at school. "Excuse me? I think I know why, everybody tends to think that we are awfully aggressive and violent and that we worship Satan or whatever. If someone finds a dead person with connection to our music genre everybody tends to think that we act like gangs and kill off those we see as enemies."

Thran sort of smirked. "And you don't? "

The long thin guy shook his head. "No, absolutely not. We get all our aggression out on stage, we don't bottle it up inside like all others. It is cathartic to just rid yourself of all negativity on stage, we can say whatever we want to for we are expected to. Even when two bands are portrayed as being bitter enemies that's usually just to create some extra attention. We stand together man, many will mourn now, and deeply"

Bard stared at the band, they were sad, there was no doubt about that and it was an odd experience, seeing these long haired and somewhat wild looking guys sobbing like toddlers. "Right, if any of you remember anything you think is important, no matter how insignificant, do not hesitate to call us, alright?"

Everybody nodded and Thran turned to Bard, his expression serious. "So, whoever did this knew that Mr Dale was in the metal community and knew about this concert too. "

Bard smiled and opened the door, the room did reek of sweat and he couldn't get out fast enough." Yes, we need to go to his ex and hear what she has to say."

He saw that Judith had bagged the head now and he gave the home address of the deceased to her and the other officers. "We will catch up with you when we have spoken to the ex, be careful"

Judith smiled and put the head in a cooler. "Will do, I am very curious, I think the one who killed Mr Dale here was left handed though."

Thran tilted his head. "Oh?"

She did look eager. "Yes, the cuts were made from the right towards the left, from behind him. It was rather odd, I have never seen cuts like that. The killer did try to get the head off as fast as possible and yet…it seems as if he has tried to be gentle too, I cannot understand it."

Bard dragged Thran with him to the car and they drove off, the manager was arguing with the CSI team who were to go over the stage looking for anything which could be evidence. He was afraid they would close the club. The concert goers hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary and neither had the employees so that didn't give them any ideas. Bard drove at a moderate speed towards the home of the ex wife of the now dead metal singer, he was thinking hard. "I still do believe that this could be some sort of music related murder"

Thran shook his head. "I don't, we have to have an open view here, and think widely. He was more than a metal singer, remember that"

Bard just scoffed and kept driving, luckily the home of the ex wife wasn't that far away. The apartment lay in a huge complex and they found it fast. It did have a nice painting on the door, of a huge tree with two ravens in it, a squirrel on the trunk and a dragon underneath it. Two wolves were painted on each side and Thran tilted his head. "This is gonna be enlightening for sure"

They knocked on the door and after a few moments the door was opened. A petite woman with long raven black hair and a heart shaped face peeked out at them. "Yes?"

She wore a long blue blouse, a set of worn jeans and if it hadn't been for the Thor's hammer she wore around her neck she could have been an ordinary housewife. "Ma'am, we are from the police, it is about your ex husband, Wayne?"

She paled. "Oh gods, don't tell me he has been in an accident? He drives so recklessly at times…"

Thran swallowed. "Ma'am, I am sorry, it is…"

She blinked, ashen grey. "He is dead isn't he?"

Bard tried to stay calm. "Yes Ma'am"

The woman let out a keen, then she went limp and fell straight into the door and the two men had to pry it open to get inside. She had passed out and they carried her over to a couch by the window. Bard did notice that the apartment was very nice, and the decorations were all very old fashioned. Most very Viking inspired and he saw a row of very nice old fashioned swords and axes on one of the walls. There were some small statues on what could only be described as a house altar and he realized that this woman probably was a pagan for real. She groaned and came too and started to cry, immediately. Thran took her hand. "I am so sorry Ma'am, your ex husband was…murdered!"

She wailed and shook her head. "That cannot be true, he was kindness incarnate! Everybody adored him, it has to be some sort of misunderstanding, are you sure it is him?"

Thran nodded. "He was positively identified by the members of a band who knew him. "

She tried to get up. "I need to see him, they may be wrong!"

Bard held her back. "No, I don't think that will be a good idea, yet. "

She sobbed. "Oh Wayne, this cannot be true!"

Thran took her hand. "You were divorced?"

She nodded. "Six months ago, we didn't end up as enemies if that is what you think, we just decided that he was needing time on his own and in my religion divorce isn't such a big deal. He said he needed to rethink things, to sort of come to terms with life and everything. We did still meet every now and then."

Thran smiled. "You are pagan?"

She smiled, there was some pride in it. "Yes, I am a priestess in fact, of the old Norse gods, Freya in special. Wayne…he was raised as a Cristian and he had some problems with removing himself completely from that idiotic indoctrination"

Bard frowned. "And by indoctrination you mean?"

She shrugged. "The belief that everything is here just for mankind, that we have the right to do whatever we like, that we are sort of the pinnacle of creation. In my religion humans are just a part of nature, no more important than the trees or the animals. He had a hard time finding the balance you see, he felt guilty for not being able to change the world so to speak"

Bard nodded, "He sounds like a very sensitive person?"

She sobbed. "Oh he was, so sweet, so caring. I cannot truly believe that he is gone!"

Thran blinked. "So you couldn't live together without being unhappy?"

She sort of sighed. "Well, he is the love of my life but he had to come to terms with things before I could take him back, he was so angry at the world at times, at the arrogance he saw every day. He became withdrawn and sort of silent and we decided that it was best that we stayed separated, at least for a while. Until he got his thoughts under control again."

Thran frowned. "Was he an activist?"

She tilted her head. "Yes, but only through the music, he didn't set fire to laboratories or things like that, he didn't even demonstrate. He believed that his lyrics could make people think twice"

Bard sauntered over to a huge bookshelf which stood by a stereo rack and he discovered that the shelf was filled with not books but old fashioned LP records and CD's. He didn't recognize half of the names there and the other half was unreadable. What was it with metal bands and fonts which looked like a Rorschach test? Samantha saw his interest and smiled, a very sad smile. "His collection, he has got a lot of music, also from Europe. He even has got some of the first black metal albums ever recorded"

She got up and walked over. "See? These are very valuable these days"

She showed some records and Thran tilted his head. "Mayhem? I think I have heard about them?"

She sort of wiped her eyes. "I am sure you have, and then we have some other stuff he also liked"

She pulled out some CD's and Bard read the labels. "Wardruna, Amon Amarth? I have no clue about what this is?"

She smiled and put the CD's back in the shelf. "Viking music, and Viking metal, the name is from Tolkien, another name for Mt Doom."

Thran raised an eyebrow. "So he was into fantasy as well?"

She had to laugh. "Listen, I can count at least two dozen bands who have their names taken directly from Tolkien and many times that which have lyrics inspired by his works. Fantasy is a higher form of art in our eyes"

Bard had never read those sorts of books and just shrugged but Thran did look fascinated. She sort of slumped forwards again. "May I…may I ask…how did he die?"

Bard shrunk but Thran tried to stay calm. "He was decapitated"

Samantha gasped and her eyes got huge. "Oh by Odin's eye, that is…"

Bard swallowed. "Rather grizzly yes"

Samantha sort of straightened herself. "At least he died a warrior's death then, by steel. Oh Gods, you must find the one who did this, you must! I cannot rest until you do"

Thran tried to smile. "I will promise you that we won't rest until we find the culprit Ma'am. "

She stared at him. "I see, I bet you both are men who keep your promises right? Good, the one who killed my Wayne was a monster"

Bard wetted his lips. "Do you have anyone who can stay with you? You shouldn't be alone now"

She nodded. "I have friends, I will call them. We will hold a wake in his honour"

Thran tilted his head and looked a bit worried. "No family?"

She shook her head. "No, I have cut off all contact with them. They do as so many others believe that being pagan means being a Satanist"

Thran scoffed. "I have heard about that sort of attitude yes"

Samantha sighed. "Yes, and it does annoy me. Satan is a Christian deity, and we are not Christians so why the heck should we bother with him? We do have Loki but he isn't a God of evil, more like mischief and practical jokes."

Bard smiled. "People are ignorant"

She pouted. "Darn right they are. I am a certified nurse and I have lost so many jobs when they find out that I am a pagan. The place I work now is alright though, they tolerate everyone as long as we do our job and I am good at what I do, so my job is safe, thank Odin"

Bard bowed his head. "We will notify you as soon as we know more, and I have to inform you that …we haven't found the body yet."

She paled again and leaned against the wall. "Sweet Freya have mercy. I will wait here, please, just let me have him back for burial when you are done with his body"

Thran shook her hand. "That is alright, we will let you know the moment we solve this"

Samantha did slump down into a chair again and Bard and Thran did return to the car after having given her their number and received hers. Thran shook his head. "I think this guy was a very troubled soul, but he kept it hidden"

Bard shrugged. "You are the shrink here, so I have to agree"

Thran took a deep breath. "I think we will find the culprit rather fast. The murder wasn't that well planned if what Judith said is true. There has to be a crime scene and I bet we will find the evidence needed there."

Bard started the car. "I hope you are right"

Wayne Dale's apartment was not very large at all, it was more of a closet than an apartment and it was Spartan in the extreme. But the apartment did look like an abattoir right now, and Thran stopped and gaped and Bard had to retch. He had seen a lot in his days but this? It did look as if someone had tried to recreate the blood shower scene from the movie Blade in there. There was blood everywhere and in the middle Judith was gathering up what had been a fluffy white rug. Now it was a fluffy red rug. She smiled and waved a bloody hand at them. "Finally, we have found the body, it was stuffed into the garbage bin outside of the door, imagine that? Now that is sloppy work for sure"

Bard growled. "More like desperate, and reckless. The murderer must have panicked!"

She nodded. "But the body told me a lot, it is on its way to the morgue now by the way."

Thran looked curious. "Like what?"

She shrugged. "He was tortured"

Bard gaped. "What?! Seriously?"

Judith nodded. "Yes, his hands had been crushed, his testes too. He had deep cuts in his torso and someone had fried his feet. "

Thran was wide eyed. "That…is grotesque?! What was going on here?"

Judith shrugged. "Beats me to be honest, but the place was torn apart. The one who did this was looking for something for sure"

Bard did see that the apartment had been ransacked and that it had been done thoroughly too. Every piece of furniture turned upside down and smashed and every shelf emptied. Judith held up something, it was a double bladed axe, the Viking type. "This was what killed him, or rather, slashed his throat. The final decapitation was done with a carving knife, in great frustration and anger or so it seems"

Thran looked at the scene. "He didn't give the attacker what he wanted, he kept his mouth shut. That was very brave, or foolish. What could he have been hiding?"

Bard sighed and looked down, the floor was covered with blood and he was glad he had remembered to put plastic socks over his shoes before entering. "I have no idea"

Thran did walk through the room, eyes narrow and Bard knew he was trying to make a picture of what the room had been like before it was demolished. There was a fish tank in one corner, not very large and it was left alone for some reason. Bard walked closer, curious. The tank was one with a pump and it looked nice, he backed off when he saw the fish inside of it. "Holy shit, is that a piranha?"

Thran walked over. "Yeah, of the most vicious sort too"

Bard bowed down, stared at the fish. It had the same expression as a vicious bulldog he once had encountered and the same sort of under bite. The tank was clean and the water looked very fresh, it was a loved pet for sure. There was a sort of decoration on the sand, a tiny plastic castle of the type you see in a thousand fish tanks like this. Thran tilted his head. "I wonder…"

He rolled up his sleeve and Bard gasped. "NO, are you nuts?! That is…"

Thran reached down into the tank and grasped the castle, something was shining underneath it and he grasped a handful of sand and pulled it up. The fish kept swimming in circles, obviously upset but not aggressive. Bard let out a sigh. "Oh my goodness. It could have mauled you!"

Thran shook his head. "No, only of I had been bleeding. And they are school fish, they don't attack while they are alone."

He opened his hand and among the sand was a small metal key. He lifted it carefully and read the letters on its side. "E-112-B. That has to be a sort of storage key, but what storage?"

Judith snapped her fingers. "Go through his bank account, if he has a storage room somewhere he has to pay for it right?"

Bard nodded. "Yes, good idea."

Judith finished her job and took off and Bard wondered what this key was hiding. What was worth enough to justify this? He called Elisa and she promised to look into Mr Dale's finances and Thran shook some water off his hand. "Whatever this is, Mr Dale did try to hide it. And he paid for that with his life. "

Bard shrugged. "Yes, I know. Makes me wonder, maybe he had some shadier sides after all?"

Thran sort of made a grimace. "We do all have a darker side my friend, but I fear that this could be very dark indeed.!"

When they left the apartment Thran checked the news and the reporters were already all over the case, the headlines were yelling about Satanist murders and cults, Bard felt a sudden urge to spew. Thran sighed. "The manager of that club will be filthy rich now, believe me. People will flock to the place, and I bet that the record sale of that band will skyrocket too"

Bard felt how his face turned rather stiff. "Yeah, some will always make profit out of the misery of others"

Thran nodded. "Amen to that!"

Elisa called back, she sounded excited. "I found it, he made a deposit each month to Seaside Storages, it is down by the docks"

Bard turned to his husband and felt a bit nervous. "Then shall we?"

Thran nodded sternly and waved his hand at a couple of officers. "Yes, and you two, follow us. This could be something rather nasty"

The two officers did look a bit nervous and looked at each other with sweaty faces.

The drive to the dock was long and Thran reported to Thor about their findings, the chief was already being flooded by reporters who wanted him to confirm that this was some sort of Satanistic ritual murder. He had already told several to sod off. The storage business was closed but a swift phone to the owner ensured that one of the employees did arrive to unlock the front gate and let them inn. The guy was yawning and he did look as if he was dragged straight out of his bed. No wonder , it was still rather early in the morning. Bard showed a note with the number and the guy sighed and waved his hand. "That is one of the largest rooms here, we have a hundred of them and about two hundred smaller ones. The large ones are more expensive but you could fit a boat in there"

Bard smiled politely but the guy was obviously trained to brag about the place to everybody and didn't shut up until Thran told him to close his mouth. The storage room was at the end of a long row of large doors and Bard waited until the officers had caught up with them. The door was easy to open and they slid it up with some worry. What could this room hide?

It was filled with crates, all very carefully placed and they were in neat rows. Each crate was rather small and some looked old and Bard looked very confused. What was this? Thran walked over and untied the string which held one of the crates closed, he opened the lid and his expression was unreadable. "Bard, you won't believe this…"

Bard swallowed, there was something strange in Thran's voice, was this something truly horrific? Thran reached down and hauled something out of the crate, Bard could do nothing but stare.

It was a teddybear, a very cute fluffy teddybear and it was wrapped in silk paper and obviously taken very good care off. Bard let his breath out in a gasp. "What the actual fuck?!"

Thran nodded. "Like I would have said it myself"

He opened another crate and revealed yet another teddy bear, it was of a different make and colour but it was very nice and pretty and rather old too. "What is this about?"

Bard swallowed, there had to be at least a thousand crates like that in there. "Could there be drugs hidden in them?"

Thran blinked. He looked so confused. "I have no clue, they don't look as if they have been tampered with though"

He pulled out his phone. "I am gonna call his ex and ask, maybe she knows something about this. "

He called and after a short while the two stood there staring at each other. The collection of teddy bears was something he had inherited from his mom, it had been about two hundred of them back then and the collection was worth about 200 grand. Now it had grown and he had told Samantha that he had sold it? But apparently he had kept it and even kept collecting and Thran dropped the phone and looked intrigued. "If this was what the murderer was after there has to be something very special in here"

Bard sort of scoffed. "We need an antiquity expert, asap"

Thran called Elisa who found a man working for the local museum who could come to assist them and Bard stared at the room. About a thousand Teddybears? And the man who owned them had been on stage with corpse make up, screaming out the lyrics? The contrast was breathtaking. Thran did google the band and showed Bard an image of the deceased while on stage, he did look horrible and terrifying and then he showed a picture of Wayne with his friends, smiling and laughing at a bar. It was hard to believe that this was the same man. The expert came after half an hour, a small thin man with a wrinkly suit and a hat. He looked eager and Bard explained the case, the man who presented himself as Joseph V Glocken immediately retrieved an ipad from his suitcase and started typing and he looked a bit shocked when he stopped. "Gentlemen, if I am not mistaken you are looking at the most valuable collection of Teddy Bears ever."

Thran blinked, "Ha?"

Joseph smiled, a stiff smile. "Oh yes, it is well known among collectors, the Dale collection. Here we have teddy bears who belonged to famous stars, royalty and celebrities of every sort. That one over there with the pink Tutu is said to have belonged to Shirley Temple"

Thran wetted his lips. "So, how much is it worth then?"

Joseph tilted his head. " Oh, hard to say, some aren't confirmed as being authentic but even without those? I say about three mill. "

Thran started to cough and Bard was gaping. "Three mill? For a bunch of teddy bears?"

Joseph nodded solemnly. "Oh yes, I do know that someone from the antiques society of this city was hired to evaluate the value of this collection a year ago. There has been rumours of it being for sale for the last two months"

Bard stared at Thran. "I think…."

Thran answered. "Therefor I am, no, I know what you are thinking, let us check Mr Dale's will!"

Thran was on the phone right away and Bard was about to ask the officers to close the storage room again when Judith called, she was a bit short of breath. "Bard? Listen, I have checked the body, oh man, this changes everything, absolutely everything!"

Bard held his breath. "What does?"

Judith was moving around judging by the sound. "Mr Dale was a dead man even before he was attacked, he had cancer, last stage. Everywhere! He wouldn't have survived for more than perhaps two more weeks, I have never seen anything this bad"

Bard couldn't believe his own ears. "What?"

Judith was short of breath. "He must have refused treatment, or maybe it was discovered too late. Anyhow, he quit singing for a reason, he must have been living in hell for weeks, the agony must have been horrible. He died with enough morphine in his system to stun a Clydesdale, and a royal dosage of sleeping medicine as well. He was drugged out of his mind, and the torture wounds were inflicted post mortem. It was subtle but I am smart, I saw it when I got to take a closer look at the injuries."

Bard stared at Thran and his eyes were huge. "Say you have gotten something?"

Thran shrugged. "Not yet, Elisa is about to check the local lawyers to see if he has left any sort of will there."

They stared at each other. "Did he have life insurance?"

It came out in unison and Bard grasped his phone again.

After another hour it was clear that yes, he did have a huge life insurance and in case of his death his ex wife was to receive it all. And she would inherit everything he had, including the money from the collection. Bard stared at Thran. "She cannot have done this?"

His voice was pleading and Thran shook his head. "No, I don't think so, her reaction was genuine, she was in real shock. She didn't know, so who did kill him?"

Thran was thinking hard, his eyes dark. "Listen, Wayne wanted to secure her future right? He must have known he was dying, and that was what made him divorce her, so she didn't have to witness his death struggle. He was living in hell as Judith said, most men would have killed themselves but if he did…."

Bard snapped his hands. "No insurance money! So he made someone kill him"

Thran held his breath. "Yes, it wasn't rage Judith saw in the injuries, it was grief! The one who killed him did not want to do it, but had to."

Bard nodded. "And the torture was done with him being dead already, probably right after his heart stopped to hide that it wasn't for real. And the key hid in the fish tank on purpose, so someone would find it. "

Thran stared at Bard. "Then who killed him? Who would go so far to help someone?"

Bard clenched his jaw. "Someone who is a true friend. Oh it was so well planned, even the placing of the head. The band will earn a lot of money now, and so will the club. It was the work of a genius."

Thran sighed. "I remember what Samantha said, by steel. He was truly a believer, this way he would die right, and not end up at that other place, Helheim or whatever they called it"

Bard raised his head. "Their religion does have priests right? Check if there are any in this area?"

Thran was on google and before long they had a list of names and they searched through them swiftly. Thran pointed at one of them. "This one, Alderic McCullan, He is a rather young man, not old and decrepit. "

Bard was tense. "Does he have an address?"

Thran showed him and Bard nodded. "Let's go!"

The priest did have an address in an ordinary suburban area, not far from the highway and the house did look exactly like a hundred other houses out there. The lawn was well maintained and the house was nice but not overly so. Bard felt a bit nervous when they knocked on the door, they didn't know what to expect at all. The man who came to the door could have been an accountant, or someone working in a call centre or something like that. He had short hair, no beard and a sad sort of greyish face. The clothes were as plain as they come and he did look older than the information said he was. "Yes?"

Bard held up his badge. "We are here about a certain Mr Wayne Dale?"

The man seemed to shrink, he wiped his brow with his hand. "Oh, do come inn, please"

Bard did notice that the man was left handed and he did look very sickly. What was this? He did take them to the living room, the house was filled with rather nice furniture but there were no family pictures and it seemed almost empty somehow. It could have been a hotel, there was nothing there which revealed anything about the man living there. Alderic sat down, he sighed and stared at them. "I killed Wayne, just as he asked for. I couldn't do anything else, it was merciful."

Thran frowned. "I hear what you are saying and I know he was dying but why? Why go to such lengths?"

Alderic smiled, a very sad smile. "To ensure his legacy. If he had told Samantha of his disease she would have moved heaven and earth to save him, spending every last dime on a treatment that anyhow would be too late. He did this to ensure that she would live her life comfortably when he was gone."

Bard leaned forth. "But why did you kill him? Why did he chose you?"

Alderic sighed and leaned back, the skin of his face seemed to sag and he was skinny. "I was the priest of the group in which the two of them met, and I love them both. I lost my own family twenty years ago and I found some peace in the belief I know preach. I guess I saw Samantha and Wayne as my children in a way."

Thran was staring at him. "And?"

Alderic sort of grimaced. "I followed our faith, he would have died in a bad way, I saved him from that fate. It was my duty"

The tall blonde was squinting. "That is not the only reason"

Alderic sort of shrugged. "No, it was murder in the eyes of everybody else, and I will not live long enough to go to court. I have the same type of disease as Wayne, cancer. It is a different type but no less lethal. I will face my end soon and accept it, but he wanted to make sure that his beloved could live well even without him. Nobody will mourn me, but I will be remembered"

Bard scoffed. "He did really make an elaborate plan now didn't he?"

Alderic smiled wryly. "Oh yes, his head left at the club by me, disguised as one of the caterers, the collection, everything. He gave the animal shelter two very precious teddy bears by the way, they ought to keep them going for at least five more years"

Thran sighed. "You trashed the apartment and everything to make it look like an assault"

Alderic nodded, his eyes were shining. "Yes, to make people aware of the fish tank with the key, then he drank some strong sleeping draught and I…killed him. I had sworn to, there was no way back."

Bard stared at Thran. "How the heck do we explain this?"

Alderic stared at them, eyes wide. "Please, do not tell anybody that I did it because of what he wanted. Tell them I killed him in cold blood, for the collection. Or else it has been in vain. She won't get the insurance money."

Thran looked a bit confused. "She will still get the money from the collection?"

Alderic nodded. "Yes, but he wants her to have so much more. Please, I beg you both. I will stick to my story about murdering him and confess to it all, just let me fulfil his last wish"

The two looked at each other, their eyes a bit glazed and then Thran nodded. "It is a deal, we won't tell a soul"

Alderic let out a sigh of relief, he did look almost happy. "Then my life and my death has meant something, there is nothing better than that gentlemen"

He held his hands out and smiled. "So, shall we?"

Bard sighed and got up, smacked the handcuffs onto the thin wrists. He had to have struggled to be able to cut the head off a man like Wayne but who were they to question that? Thor would be pleased, the newspapers would be pleased and the prosecutors would be pleased. It would all end well and then why bother ruining it?

Alderic was promptly locked away and Samantha did get all the money from the insurance and also from the sale of the collection. Wayne had hired a very good expert to sell it to the highest bidder and the sale was finished just a couple of days before Wayne's funeral. Samantha got his body back, the people at the morgue had managed to attach his head again and hide the ghastly wound rather well with wax and colour and Bard and Thran did watch the funeral from a distance. It was bizarre, most there were dressed like Vikings or in medieval clothes and some wore black leather, black boots and other metal paraphernalia. It was a very strange crowd for sure.

Wayne was burned and now Thran and Bard realized that even if Samantha said they had been divorced that didn't mean that they were legally divorced. She was still his wife on paper and thus she was next of kin and could determine what sort of ceremony they were to use. Wayne was burned like a warrior of old in a boat by the beach and the crowd was wandering around it as they sang. It was in fact rather nice and very respectable. Some of Wayne's kin had showed up too, looking extremely uncomfortable.

A priest was singing something out loud and it did sound rather archaic, some were humming along and Bard wondered what it was all about. Thran was listening intently. "I think this may be out of the havamål, a sort of list of wise advice from the gods."

Bard nodded. "Yes, that fits well"

The crowd was chanting along now as the pyre burned down.

Deyr fé,

deyja frændr,

deyr sjalfr it sama,

ek veit einn,

at aldrei deyr:

dómr um dauðan hvern.

It was impossible to understand but it had power. They both stood there until the pyre had burned down and people left. Bard stared at Thran. "I think we did the right thing"

Thran shrugged. "I know we did the right thing, even if we did with hold a wee bit of information"

Bard had to grin. "What people doesn't know will never harm them ha?"

Thran hugged him and chuckled. "Damn right it won't"

The club and the bands playing there became very popular indeed and Samantha was suddenly wealthy and could live pretty much as she liked. Alderic got sent off to a prison while awaiting the trial and as he was there he managed to piss off one very large and very volatile prisoner who shanked him in the shower and thus according to his belief sent him on his way to Valhalla and thus everybody were pleased in the end, even the newspapers. The case was closed and Thran and Bard knew that they had done a good thing, even if it was a very unusual ending to a murder case.


	6. Welcome to the jungle

Welcome to the jungle…

Peter was hurrying as he ran down the corridor, he was late for work again. It wasn't the first time and it wouldn't be the last one either, he had a nasty tendency to hit the snooze button one time too many and this morning he had been very tired. His girlfriend Nancy had been in a very bad mood the evening before and they had had a very nasty fight and when they finally eased down and put it behind them it was way past midnight. He felt guilty, he knew that old Baldric hardly cared if he was twenty minutes late with the morning feed but he liked the old lion and the old guy was so decrepit solid routines were very important. The job as a zoo keeper was a good one, he loved animals and preferred them to humans anytime. Baldric was ancient, he had been a grown individual when the zoo got him as a gift from another smaller zoo which had to close down and now they had no idea just how old the cat was. But he was skinny, had lost most of his teeth and was half blind.

The leadership had suggested euthanizing the poor thing several times but Baldric seemed to enjoy life, even if he had to be fed special food and had to stay in his tiny enclosure the whole time. It was special made with heating since the cat had problems with his joints and it was almost hidden at the back of the zoo. Few ever came to see Baldric since he wasn't huge and intimidating. But Peter loved that lion and knew that you couldn't find a more harmless cat anywhere. He ran into the small kitchen where they prepared the food for the animals and luckily Dana who was in charge of the diets had prepared the bowl with stew already, it was on the counter and Peter grabbed it and walked towards the enclosure. There was a hatch through which the bowl was to be pushed, they didn't approach the animals in person anymore, not since a tiger had ripped the arm off a keeper five years earlier.

He stopped, Baldric usually waited by the hatch and he felt a sudden surge of worry, was Baldric sick? Had he gone to his ancestors during the night? The lion was so old they all expected him to drop dead at any time now. He tilted his head, listened. There was a soft growling sound coming from the enclosure, the sort of sound Baldric made when he was really enjoying his food and Peter blinked, had someone already fed him? He wasn't that late goddamn it, just a mere twenty minutes. Then he heard something else, a sort of soft rasping sound and something wet and he swallowed hard and bent down, stared in through the observation window. What he saw made him stagger backwards, hand pressed against his mouth. Baldric was happily licking away at a bloody corpse, the lions rough tongue had ripped the skin off the body and blood covered the concrete, Baldric had to have been at it for quite a while for the thin coat was covered with blood everywhere and as he watched the lion sort of manhandled the body with a massive paw and continued to lick the blood off it. Peter couldn't think, the only thing on his mind was that he just hoped that Baldric hadn't killed that person for then he would be put down, beyond any doubt.

The bay outside of the city was rather shallow but very nice and many sought some relaxation out there on warm days. The boats weren't allowed to move very fast due to the fact that the area was home to many rare birds and also some types of fish which were rather precious to the local fishermen. They weren't many, just five men did fish these waters commercially now and they were all specialists who sought just one type of catch. That way they didn't compete with each other. Duane McHook was the fourth generation of his family to fish these waters and his preferred catch was a type of crab which was very sought after by the local restaurants. A good catch could bring more money than others made in a week and he was a very dedicated person who loved this area and tried to protect it by all costs. He hated the tourists and their fast and noisy boats, they disturbed that age old peace and showed less than no respect for anyone or anything.

This morning he was checking his traps, they were placed far out from the shore at his special place, a sort of underwater canyon where you always found at least some crabs. He had been there the day before and both the traps had been full, he had received a very generous check from the chefs at one of his best customers. The restaurant was very posh and they only used the very best ingredients and thus they bought their crabs from him and nobody else, they knew he always provided them with the very best specimens. He found the floater which told him where his traps were and he pulled them up, they were heavy and he smiled. Yet another good catch. Tomorrow he would remove them and move to another location, you never fished the same place for more than two days in a row, no sir, you let the crabs in peace again for some weeks so you didn't overfish the area.

The traps were full and all the crabs were above the minimum size, it was wonderful, yet some grand would find their way to his pockets this evening. He was tossing the traps back into the water when he did notice that something did move in the water not far from his boat, he pushed his cap up and squinted. Was that a dolphin? He loved dolphins, they were among his favourite creatures and he often saw the local pod. They would often swim around the boat and keep him company and Duane knew that they were more than just animals, they were like people, just with flippers instead of hands. He whistled and received an answer, the dolphin did sound distressed and it moved in a strange manner? Oh shit, was it tangled in some goddamn plastic garbage? He had seen that way too many times and he absolutely hated the fact that the boats dropped just about anything overboard without thinking about the environmental impact of it. He felt frantic and grasped his boat hook, the dolphin got closer and the sounds it made were pitiful, it seemed to have problems with its tail fin.

Something was indeed wrapped around it, it looked like rope and Duane cussed so hard it was a wonder the water didn't burst into flames, had someone been out there placing illegal nets during the night? That had happened before and the dolphins and other marine creatures often got tangled in them and perished. The dolphin lifted its head out of the water and squeaked, he bent down and petted the smooth head. "There there pretty one, I am gonna free you, worry not!"

The local dolphins knew him and he found his fishing knife and grasped the rope with strong hands, a dolphin is extremely powerful and a strike from the tail fin could easily knock him out but he didn't fear that at all, the animal knew he was trying to help it. The rope was new and very strong but he had a sharp knife and before long he had freed the poor creature. The dolphin did squeal cheerfully and slapped its fins against the water before it swam off and he felt very relieved, he had done something very good and he started to haul at the rope to get rid of it. If this was an illegal net it was going to get burned this very evening, the owner wouldn't get it back, no way! It was heavy, was this really a net at all? He started to suspect that this could be something way more sinister, some smugglers did drop packets of drugs and such off near the coast and then the receivers came to retrieve the goods the next night. He cursed again, hauling away at break neck speed, he wanted this dealt with as fast as possible. The crabs had to be delivered while they were alive and fresh.

The weight was huge, and he was struggling as he pulled the heavy object up towards the surface. He leaned forth and stared down, it was pale and elongated and he felt a sickening feeling in his chest. This was no packet of illegal substances, this was a body and as the head did break the surface Duane knew it, this was going to be one hell of a day indeed!

The police officer who walked down the narrow road wasn't anticipating anything out of the ordinary, this was an area where cars weren't allowed and the streets were filled with people and booths filled with all sorts of things. He enjoyed the scents and sounds and smiled at a few of the street vendors, they all knew him. It was still early in the day and there weren't that many customers out there yet. He had patrolled this area for almost fifteen years and knew everybody who lived in this part of the city very well. It was peaceful and very little happened there. He was just two years away from retirement and he guessed that his last years would be as undisturbed as the previous ones. He started to feel a bit hungry, one of the shops did sell the most delicious cakes and he contemplated dropping by, just to check that things were alright. Mrs Denver always spoiled the boys in blue with some of her creations. He was heading towards the entrance when a scream pierced the air, he jerked and blinked, oh no, what was this?

He grasped for his gun and felt his hands shake, the screaming stopped and the door to one of the small shops was thrown open, an elderly woman staggered out, looking very pale. He rushed forth and she saw him, the look of relief on her face was rather endearing. "Oh officer Brown, God bless you, there…there is a dead man in the backyard!"

Officer Brown knew there was a backyard there, a small open room where the shops kept their equipment. He held the woman gently and remembered her name after a bit of a struggle, she sold yarn and other hobby equipment and she was probably in her eighties. "Mrs Danlier, are you sure?"

She nodded. "Oh yes, oh dear lord, he was sitting by the table in the corner and when I touched him he just flipped forwards, he is dead for sure. It is horrible!"

The officer followed the woman through the shop and into the backyard, it was filled with everything from spare furniture to crates of goods and a body did in fact sit in one of the chairs by a small garden table, slumped forwards. It appeared to be a grown man and he was rather bulky and wore a very nice suit. Officer Brown saw no blood, could this be someone who had felt ill and sought a place to sit and rest and then died there? It could be a heart attack or something like that, that would mean no extra work for him. He hoped that this was so straight forward as he gently tilted the body backwards again into an upright position. Then he knew that he was going to be disappointed, this was no mere heart attack, this was something so much worse, much much worse. He covered his mouth with his hand before he staggered backwards, praying that this wasn't contagious, whatever it was!

Judith was usually a person who had an answer to just about anything, few could even imagine what it would take to make her speechless. But this… She stared at the three bodies laying side by side on identical tables and she just knew it, this was most unusual, in oh so many ways. She had received the first body early that morning, directly from a zoo where an old lion had been eagerly removing the skin of the corpse. The cause of death was hard to find due to this fact and yet there were some eerie similarities to the other two. The other one came in from the bay area, found dumped in the water. He did look as if he had been in the water for no more than a day or two, luckily for her. She hated corpses found in the sea, they did decay so fast and got terribly bloated. The last one was found in the backyard of some building complex and the cop who called it in had been terrified of some sort of exotic disease. Judith could understand that, the guy did look bizarre. As did they all. But three dead within two hours and all with some of the same physiological changes? She didn't like it at all, she wiped her hands and bit her lower lip, the bodies were covered with sheets right now but she would need to do a thorough autopsy as soon as she had identified them all. The last two victims were easy enough but the guy from the lion cage? She would need to check the dental records for that one.

There were footprints heard from the stairway and she took a deep breath and put on a smile. Bard and Thran did appear in the doorway and both looked at the three bodies with narrow eyes. "What do you think of this Judith?"

She sighed and made a grimace. "Well, as far as I can tell right now all three died of the same thing but I have no idea what that thing may be"

Bard stared at the body closest to him, the sheet was raised slightly near the man's mid section and he blinked. "Ah Judith, do they all…?"

She nodded. "Yes, I am not so sure about the guy from the lion's den but the other two does have a rather raging erection yes. I bet the first guy had one too but unfortunately Baldric the lion has devoured it"

Thran cringed and Bard sort of whistled. "So this is no coincidence?"

Judith shook her head. "Absolutely not, nope! These three were murdered for sure but I cannot for my dear life understand how. It has to be some sort of poison but I know of none which gives that sort of effect?"

Thran frowned. "I once heard of this spider which can cause erections in bite victims?"

Judith nodded. "Yes, a species from South America, very nasty critter indeed but this is no spider bite. They all seem to have ingested something, there is blood in their airways. "

Bard took a deep breath. "So, have you identified the victims?"

Judith went over to her desk. "The last two yes, here is the papers"

She handed over two folders with the little information she had found so far. Bard opened the first one. "Thomas Wickerfield, age 56, real estate agent. Reported missing this very morning by his wife, was supposed to return home last night from a business meeting but never did"

She nodded. "Yes, he was found in a backyard, the cop who called it in first thought it was a heart attack."

Thran took a look at number two. "Steven Darsley, 54, worked for a beauty clinic? What the heck? Divorced with no kids, owns an apartment down town?"

Judith smiled. "Apparently this guy was an expert at taking care of peoples feet."

Thran scoffed. "Alright, and the first dude?"

Judith raised her shoulders. "I have sent an X ray of the teeth to the register, they should find him if he is in the records"

Bard cringed. "Please tell me he was dead when he was tossed inn with that lion?"

Judith grinned. "Most definitely, and even if he had been alive old Baldric would most likely just have jogged over and demanded to be petted, that lion is "the sweetest cat" alive according to his keeper"

Thran grimaced. "And yet this sweet cat did remove a guy's skin completely. I don't think that is very sweet at all"

Judith just shrugged. "A cat is a cat is a cat. The blood must have been irresistible to him poor old puss."

Bard stared at the three bodies again. "So the deaths are most likely caused by a poison of some sorts, we have to check if they have something in common then, or if we have some maniac on the loose who kills randomly"

Judith shook her head. "Nope, you don't. They are all men in their fifties. It has to mean something. They are all rather well off and from what I have seen so far none of them have any sort of defensive wounds or anything which indicates a violent attack."

Bard was about to answer when the door at the back of the room swung open and one of the workers entered pushing a stretcher ahead of him, with yet another covered body. "Here Judith, you have one more customer, came in just now. Female in her early fifties, found in her garden just half an hour ago by her daughter"

Judith gaped. "Oh God, please don't tell me that…"

She went over and peeked under the sheet, she put it down again and blinked twice. "Fuck!"

Bard wetted his lips. "Uh…what?"

Judith closed her eyes. "It is the same, it is the bloody same. We have a serial killer gentlemen"

Thran went over and lifted the sheet, the woman was ghastly pale but the veins in the neck and face were clearly visible and dried froth and blood covered the mouth and the nostrils, the eyes were bulging and the expression told of agony and panic. "Poor soul!"

Judith went over to her work bench and found a syringe, she started to draw blood from the corpse. "I have to find this poison, whatever it was, it has worked very fast"

Bard tilted his head. "I thought most poisons were well known?"

Judith shook her head. "Heck no, we find new ones each year. New species of bugs, plants, algae, whatever. Just last year they found a new species of mushroom just outside of the capital, looks exactly like an edible relative but gives some horrific hallucinations before the person dies of internal bleeding. Nasty nasty stuff. "

Thran looked as if he didn't quite believe this. "Just last year?!"

She put the vials of blood into containers and started writing something on them. "Yes, the natives knew of it of course but when did we white ever listen to them?"

She pushed a button and one of the workers came running. "This goes to the lab now, and it is urgent. And tell them that this is a potential level four, got it?"

The young man nodded and stared at the bag of vials like it contained a live cobra. Thran did look intrigued. "Level four?"

She nodded. "Yes biohazard level four, it is a term used for really nasty stuff, like Ebola and Sars virus and Smallpox and shit like that. I have no idea what this is so it is way better to be too careful than to be too sloppy"

The computer on the work bench beeped and Judith ran over, she did look excited. "Ah, yes, they have found the first guy. Let me see"

She printed something and handed it over to Thran. "Chong Baker, aged 54, computer expert, lives in the suburb with a wife and three kids. Was supposed to be at a conference?"

Judith stared at them. "All the victims are in the same age span, and they are all employed with good jobs. There has to be a common factor here somewhere. This is vicious guys, this stuff kills fast but it is far from pleasant and this many people?"

Thran nodded. "Yes, the culprit wants them to suffer, wants them to die slowly and in agony but whoever it is doesn't want to get his or hers hands dirty. Poison is a very impersonal way of killing someone, you don't have to be there in person."

Bard frowned. "So what do you think?"

Thran took a deep breath. "The killer is either a physically weak male or a woman, and there has to be some pretty strong emotions behind this. Something almost extreme."

Bard nodded. "Right, we have to get upstairs and see if we can find the thing which connects these people. "

They bid Judith bye and ran upstairs, started to check the four dead people. None of them had any criminal record, they were all good citizens and paid their taxes and they appeared to live ordinary happy lives. There were no common ground there though, it didn't appear as if these four people even knew of each-other's existence for their lives never touched in any way. After a few hours they had gone through everything they could find and there were nothing, not even a thing like a shared favourite restaurant or a gym. Bard got up. "The daughter of the woman, Lizzy Green, we need to interview her"

Thran sighed. "You are right, there are always things you cannot find just by using the computer now isn't there?"

They told Thor where they were going and then they were off. The murder scene was still sealed off and some CSI technicians were still rummaging around in the garden, trying to find anything which was out of place. The daughter proved to be a very attractive blonde in her twenties and she was sitting in a couch red eyed and in obvious shock. Thran sat down and she sniffled and tried to smile but failed. "I cannot believe that this is true, it has to be some sort of mistake, my mother was the kindest person there is, who would have wanted to harm her?!"

Thran smiled at her, took her hand and held it gently. "Ms Green, is there anything you can think off which may help us? Your mother was most definitely murdered but we have no idea of how that happened. Or why!"

The girl swallowed hard. "Like I said, mom had no enemies, everybody loved her but I saw an odd letter on her desk some days ago, or letter, it was more of a note really. I asked her about it but she just waved me off and said it was nothing"

Bard frowned. "A note, what did it say?"

She did wring her hands. "Don't think that I have forgotten, you will all pay"

Bard tilted his head. "And that was all?"

She nodded. "Yes, written on a computer, huge bold angry letters"

Thran looked as if he was thinking. "That could indicate that this is something related to her past, to something which possibly could be many years ago"

Bard nodded. "Yes, it has to be. Ms Green, what can you tell me of your mother's past?"

She took a deep breath. "Ah, well, she graduated from college at age 23, then she worked for an accountant firm for a couple of years and after that I think she worked for a small computer company, but that was only for a year I think. Then she got a job at the law firm where she works now."

Bard was taking notes. "Right, so, she has only had three jobs?"

The girl nodded. "Yes, she met dad just after she started working at the law firm and they got married the year after, I was on the way by then. Dad died three years ago, cardiac arrest, he ate way too many burgers that man"

Thran smiled. "Right, well, then we have something to start with, do you know the name of the computer firm and the accountants?"

Ms Green closed her eyes. "The accountant firm exist even today, they are huge. Woodgrouse and sons I think. The computer firm went bankrupt I think, but if I remember it right it was called Raplink computers"

Bard had never heard the name and Thran made a note of it. "Thank you Ms Green, you will hear from us later."

She wiped her eyes. "Please, find the one who did this to my mother?"

Bard nodded. "We will, take care of yourself now and we will stay in touch"

Thran sighed as they returned to the car. "I think it is something in her work history, neither of these people are the type to fool around. From what I have seen all four were close to being directly boring in private"

Bard started the car and listened to the purr of the engine for a few seconds, it always calmed him down, even when the world went to shit he could trust his cruiser. "Yes, we need to check if any of the others worked at any of those places."

Thran smiled. "Do we call Elisa?"

Bard grasped the radio. "Yes, we call Elisa"

Judith was cutting away at the first body, and she was more and more aghast by what she found. It seemed as if this poor persons lungs had started to disintegrate into lung mosh while the person was still alive and the throat and larynx was severely swollen. The heart looked like a balloon and many of the smaller blood vessels in the body had ruptured due to the extreme pressure. She had never heard of anything like this ever. The lung tissue did look severely inflamed and she was confused. There was nothing there, no injuries from smoking or exposure to pollution, just the normal stuff you find in the lungs of all city dwellers due to the heavy traffic and she tried to think. It had to have happened fast, the victims didn't find the time to call for help, what poison does that?

She finished this body and moved on and it was the same sad tale in all of them, she pulled the sheets back and sighed. "Someone really hated you all, I wonder why"

There was a knock on the door and the messenger she had sent off to the lab entered, he carried a folder with papers. "This came now, they are scratching their heads like mad upstairs"

Judith cringed. "Uh-oh, that doesn't sound very promising"

She opened the folder and stared at the sheets of text. "What does it say?"

The guy was obviously curious and Judith felt a surge of frustration. "That it isn't any poison they know, it isn't in any database anywhere. In fact the blood didn't contain anything at all except what it is supposed to contain"

The guy frowned. "Ha?!"

Judith nodded. "Exactly, this is getting more and more weird by the second"

She took a deep breath. "I have to take tissue samples, there is no other way. The thing which killed these people has to be there, somewhere and I am gonna find it"

The guy smiled but it was a thin smile. "Good luck with that"

Judith went over to find some new gloves. "Thanks, I feel as if I am gonna need it!"

Bard and Thran rushed into the office just to be met by a very exited Elisa. "Guys, they all worked for that computer firm, at the same time!"

Bard smashed his hand into the table. "There we have it, it has to be the thing which connects them all. "

Elisa handed them a note. "This is the name and address of the founder of that company, she still lives here in the city. I bet she can tell you more"

Bard grasped the note. "Mrs Dahlia Sharit, upper Birchstreet 45. That is a posh neighbourhood"

Thran nodded. "I know it yes, we better get going then"

Bard couldn't help himself, he did smack his husbands behind. "Yes, let's go"

They stormed out yet again, with a feeling that they really was onto something.

The drive to upper Birchstreet was a long one but they put the sirens on and made it in record time and they discovered that Mrs Sharit was an elderly woman in her eighties who lived in a very luxurious mansion with some servants and a veritable horde of small yapping dogs. They were all around the two investigators and Bard felt a sudden urge to kick, it felt like being surrounded by vicious bloodthirsty lemmings. Mrs Sharit was very nice though, and she was obviously very glad she could help for she started to search for her old papers right away. "I do have the personal files here somewhere, you see, I never toss papers away"

Her voice was thin and cracking and she was using a hearing aid but she was a very sweet old lady and Bard did suspect that she was of Indian origin. After a while she found the right files and brought them back to the very beautiful teak table they all were sitting by. "Here, I remember the names you see for they were all in a very special group my son put together."

Bard did blink. "A special group?"

She nodded and a servant did slide over and poured tea into their cups, it was black as tar and probably just as strong. "Yes, my son was the real owner of the firm, my name was on the papers since I was rather wealthy. My family was nobility you see and my late husband did invest a lot when we came to the US and made the fortune grow, he was a very wise man indeed. But my son wanted to explore these new inventions, computers and such and I didn't want his name to be tarnished if something went wrong so it was all mine on paper"

She took a sip of the tea and they did the same, to be polite. Thran rolled his eyes and choked a cough and Bard managed to swallow without spreading a mist of tea all over the surroundings, but just by luck. The tea was so strong it burned! " And the special group?"

She didn't appear to notice the distress of her guests, or she was so used to how people did react to the infernal tea she had stopped bothering with it. "Yes, the group. He found people who were creative and used to thinking outside of the box and they started to explore the possibilities this new technology gave. Programs, hardware, everything really."

Thran was listening intently. "So they came up with new ideas? Did any of them become reality?"

She nodded. "Oh yes, quite a few. New ways to cool down the hard drives of large computers, games, better graphic engines. They made lots of stuff which is in use still"

Bard stared at Thran. "Alright, and your son?"

She sighed. "He died suddenly, he was too fond of flashy cars and drove off the road in his brand new Lamborghini, wrapped it around a telephone pole. I warned him about that car, yes I did. Something which is made just to move fast is not to be trusted"

Thran did write it down. "And the firm?"

She sighed. "I shut it down the year after his accident, I didn't have the same drive and interest as him, and I have never understood computers at all. So everybody were told to find new work somewhere else. They were good people so I didn't doubt that they would be employed again rather fast"

Bard smiled. "And all the dead worked for the group?"

She nodded. "Oh yes, but there were two more in the group you know"

Thran leaned forth, his eyes were a bit wild. "Two more?!"

She smiled, a sweet smile. "Oh yes, one African American male and a girl, let me see here"

She handed them a paper and there they saw the names of all the dead people plus two. Alexander Plowman and Erzebeth Black. Thran swallowed. "If the killer is after that group then these people are in danger, thank you for the tea Mrs Sharit, we have to go"

She just waved her hand. "Oh it was my pleasure, it has been so long since I was visited by handsome young men. Do come back"

They nodded and ran out the door, Bard was on the phone. "Elisa, the addresses of two persons named Alexander Plowman and Erzebeth Black, asap!"

She answered. "Right, I am on it, stand by"

Thran frowned. "Erzebeth? That is an odd name"

Bard opened the car door and sat down. "It is from Europe, Hungary I think. Their old version of Elisabeth. Have you heard of the countess of blood?"

Thran shook his head. "Nope, I cannot say I have"

Bard started the engine. "She was a noble woman who was so afraid of growing old and wrinkled she was said to have bathed in the blood of young virgins, her name was Erzebeth"

Thran just shrugged and they took off, Bard had a feeling of haste. Elisa was back online. "I have found Alexander, he lives in a town ten miles south of the city. West harbour. He owns a warehouse and lives in what used to be a horse ranch"

She sent the address over and Bard turned on the sirens yet again and this time he used the lights too. "The fastest route to that place is the old highway and then this backroad here!"

Thran pointed at the map on the screen and Bard nodded. "I agree, going through the city now is impossible, the roads are clogged with traffic already"

He pushed the car and Thran used the radio again. "Elisa, anything on the woman?"

She sounded as if she was far away. "No, nothing, seems as if she has disappeared from the face of the earth. I have found nothing at all and that is goddamn odd!"

Thran frowned. "Nothing?!"

Elisa was obviously typing very fast. "Exactly zero, there is not a goddamn thing to find about her after the firm was shut down"

Bard stared at Thran. "Now that is indeed odd."

Thran grinned. "Yes, let us hope that we find this Alexander guy alive, he could shed some light on everything for sure."

The old horse ranch had been transformed into a very hip modern house with a huge garden and the paddocks had been replaced by a tennis court and a parking lot. It was obvious that this Plowman was very fond of cars for the stable had been rebuilt as a garage with some very nice specimen. Bard stared at the row of shining bonnets. "Jaguar, Bentley, is that a Rolls Royce?!"

Thran nodded. "Indeed it is, all these are old cars, veterans. He must be collecting them"

Bard sighed. "In other words, the guy is loaded!"

Thran shrugged and walked towards the entrance. "Apparently yes"

The entrance door was a beautiful example of art nouveau and as they approached it they heard the barking of a dog, it did sound rather hysterical and Bard winced. "Oh god, don't tell me he too has a herd of yapping abominations?"

Thran listened. "Nope, that sounds more like something at the opposite end of the scale, it sounds huge"

Bard cringed again. "Great, a bloodthirsty pit bull is just what we need now"

Thran tilted his head. "I don't think Mr Plowman would want a pit bull, it wouldn't fit with the house and the cars and his wealth. I think this may be some sort of hound"

He rang the bell and they heard it rather well. Nothing happened, except from that the dog started to bark again, even louder. They tried one more time and Thran stared at Bard. "All the cars are in the garage, I cannot see any cars missing"

Bard turned around, he felt a sinking feeling. Something was wrong. "Thran, the note? I haven't forgotten? I don't like this"

Thran took a deep breath and touched the door knob, the door was unlocked and he slid the door open gently. "Mr Plowman? We are from the police…"

A huge mass of fur and legs suddenly appeared in the nearest doorway, the hall was elegant and showed lots of taste and it was obvious that the dog was bought to match the interior. Bard gaped. "An Irish wolfhound?!"

Thran shook his head. "No, rarer, an Irish deerhound, slightly smaller and almost unknown outside of its country of origin"

The dog ran towards them, tail wagging desperately and it was whining and whimpering the whole time. It was apparently not a vicious dog at all. "Where is your master boy?"

Thran petted the dog on the head but Bard backed off, the dog was the size of a small heifer or so he felt. The dog whined again and grasped Thran's sleeve gently, tried to pull him along. Thran stared at Bard. "You are right, something is wrong."

He followed the dog and Bard did draw his gun, they suddenly felt a whiff of a very unpleasant smell and Bard had to groan. "Oh shit"

Thran nodded. "That too, nobody has walked the dog since yesterday I think, but yes, something is dead in here."

They entered a longue with several very nice couches and tables and the room was very cozy, except from the fact that a dead man lay in the middle of the expensive afghan carpet which formed the centre of the room. "We were too late"

Thran's voice was very low and Bard holstered his gun. "Goddamn it, fuck!"

The dog laid down and appeared to be mourning its dead master and Thran bit his lower lip and looked very distraught. "We have to call this in, are there any security cameras here?"

Bard raised his head. "This place is full of expensive stuff, he has to have some sort of surveillance here"

He soon found a camera hidden behind a book shelf and followed the wires which were expertly camouflaged. They did merge with other wires and lead to a room at the back of the house and Bard opened the door and walked in only to turn around and run back outside again with a gasp and a feeling of being choked. There had been a person working in there, probably a security guard and the man laid over the controls with his head crushed into a pulp. The tool laid next to him on the floor, a piece of steel pipe and the entire control unit was smashed into smithereens. "Awwww, you have got to be kidding me!"

Thran came running, wide eyed and the dog started to howl, long mournful sounds which made the whole situation rather bizarre. "By my grandmother's knickers, that is bad, that is very bad"

Bard leaned forth, tried to breathe normally. "No shit Sherlock, this killer doesn't mind killing also innocent bystanders"

Thran nodded. "Yes, but he or she is also ice cold and very organized. What the fuck is this really about?"

Bard cringed. "Beats me, so, what do we do now?"

Thran seemed to think. "Call in the CSI's, but I doubt they will find anything at all. This culprit knows what he or she is doing"

Bard frowned. "Could a woman really do that? I mean, smash someone's head inn?"

Thran nodded. "Believe it or not yes, women can be just as violent as men if they feel that they have to be. "

He walked towards the longue again and the dog laid there, head on its front paws. "And you Finn are coming with us"

Bard frowned. "What?! No, I don't want that dog in the car!"

Thran turned and stared at him. "The dog will mourn itself to death if it stays here and it will be in the way when the technicians arrive. We bring him along, if there isn't anyone claiming him I think we better adopt him don't you think? The kids will love a dog like this"

Bard just blinked and Thran turned on his most irresistible smile, the one Bard couldn't fight at all. "Right, fuck, but Finn?!"

Thran touched the dogs collar. "Says so here. Finn of…something Gaelic I think"

Bard moaned. "Well, if someone else wants the dog they can have it, how much does a mutt like that eat? He'll eat us out of the house"

Thran just laughed. "No he won't, hounds like this are supposed to be lean, they are sighthounds so with him on the ranch no more prairie dogs"

Bard just sighed. "Well at least that is something, Jean has spent a fortune on the exterminator and yet those small bastards breed like…rabbits"

Thran got a new expression on his face. "But all this means that we have to find that Erzebeth woman and that soon. If she has gone underground there is a reason for it and I bet that whoever did this wants to kill her too"

Bard nodded. "Unless she is the killer of course"

Thran shrugged. "Then we have an even greater reason to find her."

Bard opened the car door and the huge dog hesitated for a moment, then he jumped into the back seat and laid down with a huge sigh. The sad eyes were staring at them through its ragged fur, the dog looked like sorrow incarnate.

Bard turned towards his partner. "The computer firm has to be the reason why someone is killing them right? Something must have happened back then"

Thran frowned. "I don't think we will find that information online, it is too long ago. The web was just in its infancy back then remember?"

Bard nodded. "Yes, and few owned a personal computer but the newspapers did do the job the web does now"

Thran grinned. "And the city library has a record of every newspaper ever published here back to the 17 hundreds. What are we waiting for?"

Bard called Thor and explained and several cruisers entered the yard before they took off, the vans with the coroner and the CSI technicians right behind them. The library was a huge building placed next to the city square and it was impressive and awe inspiring. Bard had rarely been there but Thran just strolled in through the door as if he owned the place. The place was just as grand on the inside and Bard felt as if he had just entered a cathedral. Not a religious one but one dedicated to the worship of the written word. It was silent there and some students were assembled in a corner where several large tables had been placed in tight rows. They were apparently working very hard with something. Thran walked straight up to the desk and smiled, the lady behind the counter seemed to melt completely and sent him a sheepish grin back. "Good day to you Ma'am, we are with the police and we need to see the newspaper collection"

The woman grinned. "Of course sir, just follow me"

She walked towards a staircase which lead down towards the basement and they entered another room which was just as large as the one above it but with a more normal roof height. Shelf upon shelf filled the floor and Bard groaned. "Oh sweet Jesus, how many books and magazines are down here really?"

The woman smiled, she was a rather sturdy lady wearing thick glasses and a dress which had been fashionable when Bard was a teenager. But she was rather cute and she had a very lively expression in her eyes, she giggled. "Oh some millions, we collect everything you see. Now, what year are you after!"

Thran said the year the firm went out of business and she walked over to a machine which showed micro slides. "This is the best choice then, is there anything specific you are looking for?"

Bard nodded. "Yes, a computer firm, Raplink I think it was called?"

The woman giggled again. "Please, call me Rita, we do have a search function here you see, I can use that first to find the right week at least"

She typed the word into a small computer next to the machine and the screen came to life and showed a row of dates. "There you are, week 22 to 25 of that year, and this firm was mentioned a lot in several newspapers. May I ask what this is about? I may be able to help?"

Bard frowned but Thran nodded. "We need all the help we can get I am afraid, five people have been murdered and one person may be in danger but we cannot find that person, she has gone missing completely"

Rita gasped. "Oh my, that is dreadful, murdered how?"

Bard made a grimace. "Ah, it is pretty gross, the dead have all been poisoned somehow, by some poison which causes swelling of the throat, dissolving lung tissue and …well, a raging erection in males"

Rita went a bit rigid, then she blinked and her eyes were huge. "Oh Lord, I think I know what that is?!"

Thran gasped, "You do? The coroner had no idea, nor did the lab?!"

Rita nodded. "Oh I don't find that hard to believe for this is something extremely rare, wait here, I have to find a book!"

She ran off and the two men stared at each other, it made sense, a librarian has access to a heck of a lot of information most people would never even show an interest inn. Bard started to look for the dates she had found and before long Rita returned, carrying a book which was so huge it was a miracle she was able to lift it. It did look very old though and she wore gloves as she laid it onto a table with great care. "This is one of the best botanical atlases ever made, a botanist in the 1880's made it and this is one of only five copies ever made"

Bard sort of stepped away from the book. "Something tells me that this book is very expensive?"

Rita grinned. "Try irreplaceable, the other copies are lost in time. You couldn't buy this book with a wheel barrel full of moon gravel and a sack of diamonds. "

She turned the thick pages reverently. Bard saw that all the plants were drawn by hand with exquisite detail and it was truly a work of art. He had never seen a more beautiful book. "How come you know about this?"

Thran's voice was low and Rita kept turning pages, apparently you had to go page by page so you didn't harm the old paper. "I remembered something I read some years ago, in a newspaper from some godforsaken place in Arizona or Texas or some other dry place. A local farmer had been found out in his fields, dead as a dodo with a boner and internal bleedings! They claimed it was a rattle snake bite but some local natives solved the riddle."

Bard felt a surge of curiosity, and new energy. "And?"

She kept looking and suddenly she opened the book completely and grinned from one ear to the other, they stared at some drawings of a rather anonymously looking plant with small leaves and tiny and very pretty bluish and pink flowers. "Here, this is the culprit. It doesn't have an English name but the Indians called it "waters bride" It helped them find underground water sources."

Thran stared at the drawings. "Really? Is it poisonous?"

Rita shook her head. "Nope, you could eat it without problems, it is related to many edible plants, like peas and beans. But it has a very long root system and back in the old days you could trace underground rivers by following these little rascals. These days they are on the verge of extinction tough, the farmers have drained the aquafers and turned the once dry dessert into fields and this plant has extremely strict demands when it comes to habitat. It need dry soil, lots of limestone in the ground and almost constant sunlight!"

Bard felt confused. "So, how did that farmer die?"

Rita pointed at the drawing. "He was digging a ditch, in the dry season. That is when these little beauties try to reproduce you see, and the seed pods?"

She pointed at the drawing, one of the flowers there was painted with something which resembled a pea pod underneath it. Rita touched it with her finger nail. "The size of the drawing lies, the pods are tiny, not more than a cm long at the most but they contain a heck of a lot of seeds and they are among the smallest seeds of any known plant. It is like the finest dust."

Thran opened his mouth and Bard took a deep breath. "And the seeds are poisonous?"

Rita slammed her finger nail down onto the drawing. "Damn right they are, but nobody knows just how the poison works, and it is out of the system extremely fast. They think it is a defence system the plant has evolved to ward off prairie dogs, they love to eat anything green."

Thran's voice was hoarse. "Rita, who would know about this?"

The librarian cocked her head. "Except from this very clever public servant? A botanist with a specialization in rare plants perhaps? Someone from the area where the farmer died? It was all over the news down there"

Bard felt like a racehorse on the starting line. "And where did the farmer die?"

Rita had to think for a few seconds. "A farm town called Swiftwater I think, it is in the middle of nowhere"

Bard stared at Thran. "And how much are you willing to bet that the culprit comes from that town?"

Thran grinned. " A lot!"

Rita was giggling. "Oh this is exciting, if you catch the killer you have to inform me, we don't get much action down here"

Bard just mumbled. "No shit"

Thran found a map on his phone and tried to locate the town. "Bard, it takes two days to drive down there, the culprit must have travelled north in a more comfortable manner don't you think? Is there any airports close to that town I wonder"

Bard shook his head. "Nope, I don't think the murderer would travel by plane, you leave a paper trail that way. Look, there is a railway line going through that town and you don't need that much ID to buy a train ticket."

Thran nodded. "Damn it, you are right. And we have trains coming and going each day and every hour. We have to find the name"

Bard sat down by the micro film machine, started ploughing through the headlines. He soon found the first article about the firm. "Local computer firm claims to have found the holy grail of computer electronics"

He did read the article rather fast, it didn't say much except that the firm had created a revolutionary new type of micro chip. Then there were some rather boring articles about the way the owner of the company saw the future of computers and then there was some huge headlines once more. "Local firm proves to be a complete scam, latest discovery proves to be the work of someone else"

Thran leaned forth over his shoulder. "Industrial espionage?"

Bard nodded. "I was about to say that too."

They went through the rest of the newspapers and apparently the firm had managed to come up with quite a few inventions which made the workers there filthy rich before it was shut down. Bard rubbed his face, he was getting tired. "It was decades ago damn it, why hold a grudge for so long?"

He opened another newspaper article and stared at it, it was a sort of list of the inventions the firm had put onto the market and underneath was a list of the names of the members of the development group. He froze, the names…there was a distinct difference between this list and the one Mrs Sharit had given them. "Damn it, she changed her name, she isn't going to show up anywhere if we search for the old one"

Thran was gaping and Bard grasped his notebook and wrote it down. Erzebeth Black had turned into Elisabeth Schwartz somewhere near the end of the firm. He grasped his cell phone and called Elisa. "It is me, quick, check if any of the railway companies have had a passenger by the name of Elisabeth Schwarz in the past days, and see if you can find anything on that name, asap!"

Elisa was typing like a mad woman, they could hear it. "Guys, yes, a woman by that name came to the city four days ago, with Southwest and Silverville railroads. It is a cheap company, not much luxury at all."

Bard swallowed. "Right, see if you can find her, she has to stay in some hotel, no, try the motels. She isn't rich, she will want to save money."

Elisa was grunting. "Alright, I will make some calls."

Bard stared at Thran. "If she changed her name without the others knowing this she could probably approach them rather easily, and they wouldn't suspect anything before it was too late."

Thran grasped his phone and dialled a number. "It is Thran, are you still at Ms Greens place? Great, ask the neighbours if they have seen a stranger sometime in the last days, a woman."

There was silence and Bard understood that Thran had called one of the technicians. "Thran? Yes, a saleswoman, went from door to door with some sort of catalogue, was selling makeup"

Thran thanked the technician and nodded at Bard. "The perfect disguise, a door to door saleswoman. Most people would let someone like that in."

Bard swallowed hard. "She is sinister this one, but why now? And why kill the others?"

Thran shrugged. "I guess we have to find her to find out"

Rita returned to the room and she was obviously very eager. "So, have you guys found something!"

Bard nodded. "Yes, but one more question, if you want to kill someone with those seeds, how would one do that?"

Rita made a grimace. "Stand with the wind at you back and blow the seeds into their face? And make sure you don't inhale until you are well out of harm's way"

Thran looked down. "Bard, we need gasmasks, and nobody is to approach the suspect without one. She has killed innocent people before, she won't hesitate doing it again"

Bard nodded. "Yes, but I still…why now? Why wait for more than twenty years?"

Thran stared at the screen. "Ah, I think the answer may be found here somewhere. They did invent a lot of stuff and some of it wasn't technically possible back then but now it is common"

Bard nodded. "Let us check the list of inventions again"

He opened the right article and skimmed down the page. Then he slowed down and pointed at a line of text. "This…this is something which came on the market last year?! And the app is worth millions"

Thran opened his phone and went onto google. "Wait a second, here we go. "

He was typing and let out a small yip. "Oh bugger, the rights to that programme was bought by a private person twenty years ago and sold again to one of the major programming firms just before it was presented to the public."

Bard frowned. "How much did that private person earn?"

Thran was working like mad on the phone. "Sixteen point five millions. Jeeezes, he paid just twelve hundred dollar for the original idea, which he bought from….Raplink development!"

Bard cussed. "There we have it, who is he?"

Thran closed the phone. "Mr Jupiter Shire, he is a business tycoon and richer than even Thingol. But he has earned it all by being smart and thinking forwards, investing in new stuff all the time. "

Bard just knew it, this man was the next on the list and he was about to make an urgent call when his phone rang. "Elisa here, I found her. She lives at the Riverside motel, it is a cheap ass place. She isn't inn though, the clerk says she asked for a cab two hours ago, was heading for West Oaks"

Thran swore so bad it was a miracle the celluloid micro films didn't catch fire and Rita did look very shocked indeed. "That is where Mr Jupiter lives!"

He stared at Bard. "She is gonna kill him."

Bard called Thor, feeling as if he was on the verge of a breakdown. "Thor? It is me, listen, send a swat team, no, all the swat teams to the home of Jupiter Shire, the suspect is probably there and she is very dangerous. Nobody is to approach her without a gas mask, the poison is in some very small seeds and she could be hiding them anywhere."

Thor gasped, then he swore and they heard the alarm go off. "Shit, he does have very tight security but one woman with no apparent weapons? If she is smart she has gotten past the guards"

Bard was sweating. "That is what I am afraid off, send everything you have!"

Thor just ended the call and Thran grasped Bard by the arm. "Lets go, we have to hurry, I fear we already are too late."

Bard just sent Rita a pale grin as they ran out the door, the librarian did look rather shocked and the stretch to the parking lot was done in record time. Bard let Thran drive, right now he was way calmer than the dark haired man and he knew how to manoeuvre through dense traffic. The area known as West oaks was the best estates in the entire city, only the crème de la crème of the rich and famous lived there and most homes were in the class which requires a bank account the size of the national budget of a small country. The roads were rather packed but the lights and sirens did clear the way and after twenty minutes they raced into the huge park in front of Mr Shire's mansion. The swat teams had already arrived and the leader ran towards them. "She is here, man, it is…I have never seen anything this bad. The guards, they are all dead"

Bard moaned. "How many?"

The swat leader swallowed hard. "Ten men, I knew some of them, best of the best!"

Thran was pale. "Have you seen her?"

The tall man nodded. "Yes, she is in the office of Mr Shire, we have her pinned down but we cannot get inside, she has a whole box of that stuff and threatens to shake it if we get any nearer. She demands that he transfers all the money he has earned from that new app to her"

Bard nodded. "Has she said anything? Made any statements? "

The swat leader nodded. "She is fucking insane man, screaming like a freakin banshee, she says she was the one to come up with the idea and then the others stole the papers and sold the rights to the program behind her back."

Bard cringed. "I would have been pissed too but she is taking it way too far!"

Thran stared at the entrance. "Do you have any surveillance tapes of the office?"

The leader nodded. "Yes, follow me"

They ran into a room where two swat team members were keeping an eye on the office. Mr Jupiter sat in a chair and he did look very scared, two dead guards lay in front of his desk and next to him was a tall and rather brutish looking woman with grey hair and a face which reminded Bard of a picture he once had seen of the girl from the exorcist, in full make up. This was one mad person. She held a coffee box and they could see that it was filled with black matter. Thran swallowed hard. "Shit, that is enough seeds to kill the entire household, probably the entire block!"

There were swat team men in black uniforms stationed by every door and window but nobody dared to enter, even with gas masks. The box of the deadly seeds were held too close to Mr Shire, if they tried anything even the smallest movement would send the dust like substance straight into his airways. He was typing on a laptop, obviously transferring money and she stood there screaming insults. Her face was red and she was almost foaming at the mouth. Thran stared at the face, the woman seemed to be short of breath and her balance was off, the bloodshot eyes were staring at the man with absolute hatred and malice. "Bard?"

Bard nodded. "Yes, what is it?"

Thran was a bit pale. "I just remember one thing I once learned in school, I may be wrong but I don't think so"

Bard felt nervous. "Thran? What are you thinking about now? Don't you do anything stupid…"

Thran turned to the swat team leader, his voice was tense. "Is there a sprinkler system here in this building, can it be turned on just within certain rooms?"

The leader did look confused but he nodded. "Yes, not for separate rooms but for the different wings of the building, what are you thinking about?"

The tall blonde grasped the swat leaders shoulder. "Listen, here is how this ends, when I say go you bring your men in, but make sure that you don't shoot her, her blood is lethal"

Bard gaped. "What?!"

Thran nodded slowly. "Yes, she has rabies, look at her! The madness, the sudden urge to kill. Heck, she could have done this last year but she didn't, because she was sane back then. But now, she is stark raving mad"

Bard moaned, of course, the increasing violence, the deviousness. It all spoke of a brain in rapid decline. Even a rabid person works just fine until the disease enters the last stage which comes after about two weeks, you just lose all inhibitions and suffer from severe psychological effects like paranoia and anger "The plan?"

Thran grinned. "Those with rabies are terrified of water, and the water will drench those seeds within seconds, turn them into sludge. "

The team leader appeared to be in awe. "Of course, shit, I should have thought of that. What do you need?"

Thran grinned, a sardonic smile. "Does anybody have a lighter?"

They ran to the rooms next to the office and the team leader barked orders into the radio. Thran got a lighter and climbed up into a chair, found one of the smoke detectors. "You see, my mother was from Finland and they were terrified of rabid animals, so the kids learned about the disease in school and one way to keep them away if you got attacked was to spray water on them until someone came to help."

Bard winced. "Oh God, that is… I wouldn't let anyone outside if there were rabid animals around, kids least of all!"

Thran looked very calm now. "In a village in Alaska they had a huge problem with rabid foxes some years ago, they gave the kids baseball bats to bring with them along the school road, just in case some fox approached them. The parents told them to just smash the heads inn and leave the carcass for the adults to remove later. But those parents would never let their kids go to school here, along the heavily trafficked roads. It is all a matter of perspective."

He lit the lighter and held the flame up under the detector. At first nothing happened but suddenly there was a swooshing sound and gallons upon gallons of water fell from the roof. From the office they heard a ghastly sound, a scream so horrible it was hard to believe that a human being could produce something that shrill. The swat team burst in through the doors and Bard and Thran ran in behind them. The coffee box lay on the floor, black sludge dripping from it and the woman was on the floor too, snarling and writhing like mad. The swat soldiers had already cuffed her and someone pulled a thick black bag made from dense fabric over her head. "Watch it, the bitch tries to bite!"

Mr Shire sat there as pale as a ghost and Thran walked over to the box and stared at it. "This is hazardous material, get a special team in here to remove it and burn the carpet. This stuff is really bad!"

Mr Shire was gasping for air. "She was…what was that? She was mad…!"

Thran nodded. "She was rabid, there are lots of bats down south and I bet she has been bitten by one, about two weeks ago!"

Bard swallowed. "She won't stand trial now does she?"

Thran shook his head. "No, she will be dead by tomorrow evening, it has come too far. All they can do is sedate her, but it will be a terrible way to go anyway. The nerves will be fried by then and pain meds won't work."

Bard tried to smile. "So it was the rabies which caused this?"

Thran nodded. "And an old grudge yes, I bet she was bitter and angry at the others of the group for a long time but she didn't do anything about it, she was a decent person, until she got bitten."

Bard sighed. "But she acted so deliberately, with such good planning"

Thran squeezed his shoulder. "Yes, for she was an incredibly smart person to begin with, she probably had plans made, which she never would have put into action but probably just served as a way to release some of the hurt she had felt. But with the virus raging around in her brain her stop button was gone and she started to follow her plan. To the T. She was a strong woman, she would have no problems dropping a man into a lion den or throwing a corpse off the pier into the strong currents of the bay."

Bard frowned. "She made them all meet her somehow"

Thran nodded. "Yes, by pretending to be someone else, I bet we'll never know just how she found them, what matters is that she is stopped and people are safe.

Bard smiled, he felt relived. "So now what?"

Thran kissed his cheek discretely. "Now we tell Judith of this plant and its deadly seeds, we thank Rita for the help and then we go home and introduce our new dog to the family"

Bard rolled his eyes. "Thran? We may not be able to keep it, Thran!"

He was speaking to deaf ears, his husband was already heading for the car where the overgrown mutt was greeting him with a friendly bark. Well, at least it was an intelligent dog, it could have been worse, it could have been an afghan hound. And they did have the same gorgeous blonde hair as Thran so at least there would be no mix ups now. Finn did look rather scruffy compared with Thran's silky mane.

"Alright, at least the kids will be thrilled"

He had already surrendered as he sat down and fastened his seatbelt, it had been a heck of a day, he didn't want to make it any worse than it already was. And if he acted all sweet and kind Thran would most certainly reward him, yes, that cheered him up again. Dogs or no dogs.


	7. The man behind the mask

Chapter 7: The man behind the mask…

Being a fireman wasn't as glamorous as most believed, in fact it did suck balls at times. Like now, he was sweating like a pig inside of the protective suit and his back was aching. Fighting the fire was bad, cleaning up after it was just as exhausting. The wildfire had swept through an abandoned park area south of town and left nothing but blackened brush and smouldering trees. The area had been too dry to become a good park and the city council had decided that it was to be used for storage of industrial waste instead but so far nobody had put it into use. The old park just laid there, a refuge for wildlife and like a piece of some forgotten world. But now the entire area was scorched, and the fire department had to clean it up to make sure that the fire wouldn't flare up again later. The soot was a foot deep, since the park was unused the grass had grown very long and so had the bushes, it had been a true jungle. Due to the heat they hadnt been able to go through it right away, they had waited for some days since there had been plenty of other fires to take care off.

Bob was used to this shit, he often came across the scorched remains of animals when doing this job for not all creatures did think very well and some didn't try to escape before it was too late, and the wild fires could move fast and with an almost sinister sort of determination, as if the flames were seeking victims deliberately. He had once come across a huge deer, the animal had been running but the flames had been faster and he had smelled it before he saw it, and the odd thing was that the smell was kind of pleasant, like well roasted steak. A friend of him had once attended to a fire at a pig farm and he said that you could smell fried bacon from miles ahead, it had put him off pork for months. Bob didn't mind, he did his job and thought about the paycheck, if you started feeling sorry for the poor beasts you would go nuts. They had found three roasted rattle snakes and a racoon so far and he was rather sure they would find more before the day was over.

He stopped and sniffed, yep, burned flesh. There was something rather large ahead and he waved to his partner. "Yo, Freddy, we have something large up ahead, probably a deer"

Freddy nodded and used his axe to cleave a fallen log, just to make sure there weren't any embers slumbering inside of it. "Yep, or a pig. This county has a huge problem with pigs these days, bastards are everywhere. One did tear up my niece's inflatable swimming pool three days ago, kid was devastated."

Bob just mumbled, that brat was so spoiled it surprised him that she didn't still get help when she needed her bottom wiped. "Hmm-mm"

He walked on, the smell got stronger and he slowed down, what the….Ahead there was a small canyon, just a couple of meters deep and not very long but there was something at the bottom, something shiny? Had some bastard dumped his garbage there? Wouldn't surprise Bob in the least, people would dump just about anything where they shouldn't. He and the other guys had training as rescue divers and during a training dive they had come across two pick up trucks, a trailer, seven sets of wheels for a tractor and god alone knows how many rusty grills. And the area was a protected zone, part of a national park. So no, nothing did surprise him any more. He got closer. Was that a chair? Yes, an office chair and in it….Bob turned around, suddenly his lunch wanted to say hello to the fresh air again and Freddy tore his helmed and mask off and made a run for the burned bushes. It was a body, strapped to the chair with handcuffs, blackened and twisted and Bob just knew it, this poor son of a bitch had burned alive. Thanks to the funnel effect and the direction of the wind that canyon had acted like a chimney, the heat had to have been infernal! The body seemed to have melted into the chair itself but he did notice one thing before he joined Freddy in the bushes, on the corpse's finger there was a ring, and it was one he did recognize, all too well.

Bard was fuming, or rather, he wished that he was for it was unbearably hot and if he did lose his temper now he would suffer a heat stroke beyond any doubt. The day had started off with Tilda throwing a fit because she couldn't find her favourite pair of jeans and heaven forbid she arrived at school in anything else than those goddamn pink pants. Jean had put them into the washing machine and forgotten to remove them the evening before and thus the crisis was a completed fact. Sigrid had managed to calm her sister down by giving her a very nice skirt and Bard had to blink when he saw it for the way he regarded the piece of fabric it did look more like two napkins glued together than a skirt. There wasn't enough fabric in it to cover a dinner plate, and someone's ass? Not at all! Then Bain threw a fit since the new puppy Jean had gotten had done unspeakable things to the notebook he just had bought to make sketches in and Legolas couldn't find his gym bag and Thran managed to slip in the shower and hit his head on the showerhead. Now he had a very nice bruise next to his left eye and was in a foul mood too.

The shift was to start soon and they drove to work in silence, Thran had an aching head and Bard felt blue, thinking about how fast the kids did grow and how fast they had changed from being completely dependent of him to being on their way to becoming someone he no longer really knew. Thor was not at work this day, he had some vacation left and an officer from another precinct was leading the station in his absence. Mr Green was a nice guy but so easily distracted and he was the type of person who would have forgotten his own head if it hadn't been attached to his shoulders. Right now he was seemingly trying to imitate a carousel for he was spinning around trying to figure out which phone was ringing and Bard did take a deep breath of air. It was gonna be one of those days, he just knew it.

Thran had an appointment with the state attorney, he was to do an evaluation of a guy who had murdered his entire family and the attorney knew that most people would prefer to see the guy fry, but still they had to make sure that he actually was aware of his actions. Thran wasn't looking forwards to it and Bard knew that the case had been bothering his beloved for some weeks. It had been a most horrible murder scene and some said that the man was possessed and that he needed a priest instead of a shrink. Bard had been one of the first detectives called to the scene and he had seen worse but not often. He was writing on a report which was a week overdue when Thran returned, he was sweating and threw his jacket onto his chair, the long golden hair was sticking to his skin and every fan available was working overtime now but it wasn't enough. The new station didn't have windows and the air conditioning system wasn't made for a heatwave like this one.

Bard moved aside and Thran pulled a chair out and sat down, he was almost panting. "Goddamn it, the prison was even hotter than this place. They are hosing down the inmates with fire hoses to avoid riots, and they are still passing out by the dozen. "

Bard nodded. "Yes, the heatwave is said to last out this week!"

Thran moaned and closed his eyes, the fan on the desk was trying desperately to create some cool air but all it managed to produce was a weak air movement which seemed to be almost ashamed of its own lack of efficiency. "If the temperature rises more now the city will shut down, I kid you not. Nobody has the energy to do anything right now"

Bard frowned. "So, what is the verdict, is the man to be held responsible for his deeds?"

Thran sighed and hid his face behind his hands for a second, then he shook his head. "No, the guy is insane, utterly and completely bonkers. I don't know what his diagnosis is but it is a grand one for sure. He was dead sure I was his late mother, and he wasn't faking it, he truly has lost all contact with the real world. When I arrived at the interrogation room he was having a very sweet conversation with Eleanor Roosevelt and the warden said that he often spoke to Captain Kirk as well. The dude has a brain which must have been completely fried at some stage."

Bard shrugged. "Sounds like it, any idea why?"

Thran did look uncomfortable. "They think it is a case of drug abuse which has backfired. Some sort of belated effect of youthful experimentation with some shady stuff"

Bard frowned. "What? He was how old? Fifty four? Can anything affect someone that long after intake?"

Thran made a grimace. "Well, they say LSD can cause some effects like this but I doubt it, I told the medic at the facility to check the man for syphilis, I am more inclined to believe that the madness is caused by that disease. "

Bard cringed. "Syph? Seriously?"

Thran nodded. "Yes, it can surface after decades and I am quite convinced that the man's brain looks like Swiss cheese when they scan him. "

The door to the main office opened and the face of Mr Green could be seen. "Guys, we have a case, someone has found Mr Lupo Sanchez"

Bard turned around. "What?! Dead?!"

Mr Green did look sad. "Of course, they wouldn't call us if they found him sipping drinks at some spa now would they?"

Thran cussed. "Goddamn it, I had hoped that he just had decided to take a break" ¨

Mr Green shook his head. "Not much chance for that I am afraid, they found him in the old park, the whole thing had burned to a cinder, and he too I am afraid."

Bard got up. "It could not have been an accident?"

Mr Green shrugged "Not unless he has a hobby of placing himself in the path of a wildfire, chained to an office chair. The CSI are on their way, Judith too. Keep a low profile on this one guys, he is a celebrity after all"

Bard grasped his badge and gun and Thran did run after him to the cruiser. Bard cussed, the dead man was a national hero, a treasure. A person who had worked his way up from the very bottom of society to become one of the most famous wrestlers ever and he was beloved and admired by everyone. If this was murder it was a tragedy. Thran was staring straight ahead, he did look very intense. "How long has he been missing?"

Bard pushed the cruiser by a slow moving truck, the GPS was showing them the best route to the old park but the traffic was bad, most people were heading out of the city now, desperate for some shade and relief from the heat. "He was reported missing by his manager last Thursday."

Thran swallowed. "Today it is Wednesday, six days then. He must have been kept somewhere, could this be extortion? A kidnapping gone wrong?"

Bard shook his head. "Nobody has mentioned anything about a ransom, and believe me, if someone did kidnap El Diablo the fans would pay out, no matter how much they wanted."

Thran nodded and he did look tense. "Yes, the mayor would have paid too, that man was a saint"

Bard did focus on the road. "Yes, how much did he spend on charity last year?"

Thran shrugged. "I have no idea but they say he never gave less than sixty percent of his income to those in need. The city will go into mourning now"

Bard remembered what he had read about the remarkable career of this wrestler, he had become one of the very icons of the sport and when he had been badly injured in an accident ten years ago everybody feared that this was it, that he would quit. But after several months of rehabilitation he did return to the ring, although he now wore a mask to hide the scars from his injuries. They called him the masked angel and the Latin American population in special seemed to almost worship the man.

They arrived at the park, the coroner's car was already there and so were the CSI technicians, sealing off the area and searching for clues. Bard had seen burned areas before, as a kid he had visited some national park just after a major fire and even though the destructions were grand he had been told that it would be green again within a few months. This however was not likely to turn green again, like ever. The soil appeared to have been turned into rock almost and there was a smell in the air there which told Bard that some sort of accelerant had been used. Judith had erected a sort of screen around the body and she nodded at Bard and Thran but her face was grim. Bard had in fact never seen her looking that angry before and she snapped at a poor technician who happened to come too close to her equipment. Bard looked at her with astonishment and she sort of grimaced. "I am sorry, it is just that…this man did so much good for the community, I know of kids who owe him their entire education and many who would have ended on the streets if it wasn't for Lupo. And now this…"

Thran swallowed. "Did he suffer?"

Judith almost snarled. "Suffered? Look at this!"

She help the screen and they saw that the body still was strapped to the remains of the chair, the hands were visible and Bard cringed when he saw that the wrists had been almost severed, the bones broken in several places. "He tried to break free, he fought for his life, seeing how the fire crept closer and closer to him. The one who placed him here knew where the wind and the terrain would turn a fire into an inferno"

Bard sighed, "It was premeditated"

Judith nodded. "Hell yeah, and I beg of you, find the one who did this, we cannot let someone who allows something like this to happen run free"

Thran stared at the charred remains, he did look pale and Bard knew that his partner was thinking very hard right now. "What is on your mind dear?"

Thran sighed and turned around, there was a hint of sadness in his eyes. "This speaks of strong emotions, or rather extreme ones"

Bard frowned. "Hatred?"

Thran shook his head. "No, the one who did this tortured him, but I don't think he stayed to watch, that would have been too dangerous. No, this speaks of something…more intimate I think, something…deeper"

Bard was confused. "What?"

Thran shrugged. "I keep thinking of betrayal, of hurt, heartbreak"

Bard frowned and stared at the burned remains of the famous wrestler. "I don't think I understand?"

Thran let out a huge sigh again. "Neither do I, but we have to interview everybody, what family does he have?"

Bard had checked the papers when Lupo was reported missing. "His mother lives in a city just over the border, with his siblings. But he had one ex wife and an estranged daughter, and of course a manager and some friends"

Thran did look curious. "An ex-wife?"

Bard nodded. "Yes, but I doubt that she is behind this. They separated as friends fifteen years ago and she lives in Canada now, works as a career consultant"

Thran stood there, staring as Judith did the last preparations and the body was removed from the chair and covered to be transported. He did point towards the street outside of the park area. "Look, the vultures have already gathered"

Two TV stations did already have reporters on site and they were waiting, looking as eager as a dog who has been promised a big juicy steak. Bard cussed so bad Judith did wince. "Oh damnation and hell fire, this spells trouble"

He turned to the technicians. "Alright, spill it, who alerted the media?"

The technicians just shook their heads. "None of us, promise! It could have been one of the fire fighters who found the body though, the reporters pay them to inform them if they do come across something worth writing about"

Thran pinched the bridge of his nose. "Wonderful, if they do find out who this is the entire police station will be under siege. I bet Thor is happy he is on vacation now but Mr Green won't be able to handle this, no way!"

Bard nodded. "It will be like tossing a lame lamb to the wolves. They will tear him to pieces."

Thran lifted his cell phone and dialled a number, Bard heard the voice of Elisa, she did sound sleepy. "Yes?"

Thran winced. "I am sorry to awaken you, but we need you at the station asap, all hell is about to be unleashed complete with brimstone and wailing"

Elisa could be heard moving. "What? What is happening?"

Thran cleared his voice. "We have news about the missing wrestler, he is dead, burned to death. And when the media gets a whiff of that the station is gonna become a hornets nest"

Elisa was silent for a few seconds, then she said something on Navaho which none of them understood but the meaning was pretty obvious. "Right, I will be there in five. Mr Green has never handled the media before, they will smell that and be at his throat"

Thran ended the call and turned to Bard. "There is nothing more here unless the technicians have found something?"

The lead technician did look rather important. He was grinning from one ear to the other. "Oh, but we have found something, this was in deed a most diabolic act. He was dozed with gasoline and also some substance we believe is old napalm"

Bard gaped. "What? Are you kidding?"

The technician did shake his head, he was a rather chubby guy and Bard tried not to count the number of chins he had. "No, it was smeared all over his clothes, it burns like real hellfire when set alight, it is impossible to put out too"

Bard did grind his teeth together. "Damn it. Someone wanted to make sure that he wasn't saved at the last minute, he had to burn!"

Thran nodded. "Like I said, strong emotions!"

Bard cringed and tried not to look at the morticians who carried the corpse to Judith's car. "What in heck's name can cause someone to do something like that?"

Thran sighed. "Know what? I fear that we are about to find out, whether we want to or not"

They returned to the car and drove off, dispatch sent them to the house where Lupo had lived, some officers were already there to inform his staff of the findings and when Bard pulled into the drive way he was struck by something odd. Lupo had always been a humble man, his home no better than that of most white shirt workers. But there was a very nice car in the driveway, an old Mustang and Bard happened to know that this exact model was very sought after and also expensive as fuck. Had Lupo decided to indulge himself just for once and bought himself something nice?

They entered the rather small but very well kept house, it was a standard home, two floors and three bedrooms with two baths and a small garden and if you didn't know better you would never have guessed that this was the home of a very wealthy man. Even the furniture was old and worn and the other things there could have been bought at a yard sale for all Bard knew. Nothing was fancy at all. The people assembled was his personal assistant, a house keeper and two of his friends, all had been crying and the house keeper was an elderly woman with flint grey hair and a very bent back. She was rocking back and forth in despair, whispering in Spanish and Bard realized that the woman was truly heartbroken. Thran cleared his throat. "My condolences, I am very sorry for your loss, he was a great man"

The assistant sniffled. "The greatest, the most warm hearted person ever. Oh what are we to do now? Our light has been extinguished, our hope stolen from us"

Thran tried to stay serious, the assistant was very melodramatic but he appeared to be one of those gay men who are drama queens. "Have his family been notified?"

The house keeper nodded. "Yes, his mother is flying in with his sister, they will arrive later today."

Bard frowned. "Only two?"

The grey haired woman nodded slowly. "Yes, he wouldn't have wanted them to waste money on plane tickets, no, two is enough. They will bring his body back to Mexico when the police is done with it, he is to rest in his home village"

Thran sat down with a piece of paper and a pen. "Do you know of anyone who would have wanted to harm Lupo? An opponent? A rival perhaps?"

Everybody shook their heads. The assistant sobbed. "Everybody loved him, yes, everybody. Even those he fought and defeated. Remember the fight against The titan in 06? He paid for The titan's hospital stay when it was discovered that the man had testicular cancer. And he broke one guys shoulder once but paid all the expenses and then helped him get his kids through college, they are still friends. Everybody adored him"

Thran frowned. "I have seen the fights, there is a lot of pomp and circumstance, and also a lot of mysteries surrounding El Diablo?"

The assistant nodded. "Yes, he took his accident and turned it into something positive, something he could use to his benefit. But he was very superstitious like all wrestlers so nobody dared to question his routines"

Bard felt like a moron, he hadn't watched that much wrestling at all. "What routines are we talking about?"

The assistant smiled through the tears. "He would leave his house two hours before the fight and go to the local church where he would pray and confess, nobody were to join him for he needed to focus his energy. He would change into his costume on the way to the fight, and arrive masked and ready and then nobody was to talk to him until the fight was over. "

Bard blinked. "Really?"

The man nodded solemnly. "Yes, he would leave the ring immediately and go to some room designated for him and pray and then he would re-emerge as himself, the El Diablo character left behind. Only then would people be allowed to speak to him"

Bard stared at Thran who just shrugged. "So, he always did this?"

The assistant nodded eagerly. "Yes, after the accident. Before that he didn't really bother but I think he believed that he owed something to God for having survived and the El Diablo character did bother him afterwards but he tried to separate himself from it. He only wore the costume when he was ready to fight, I think he was afraid that El Diablo would influence his true self in some bad manner"

Bard felt like a moron. "He couldn't just change the character? Take a new name?"

The assistant scoffed. "It is very clear that you Mr Detective is no wrestling fan, no wrestler would do that, it is the ultimate bad omen. You can switch side but never the name, ever! It is like swearing whilst at mass"

Bard couldn't fall any deeper. "Switch side?"

Thran sighed and rolled his eyes. "Wrestlers are divided into the good guys and the bad guys, some does create a whole imaginary tale while creating their character, and the fans knows everything about them. It is all a part of the culture and if a good guy becomes a bad guy he may lose some fans but ultimately gain more when he is sort of returned to the herd, it is a grand show"

Bard shrugged. "I always believed that it was all for show, and that the fights were rigged and not even real"

The assistant smiled. "Many does believe this yes, but the fights are real, and the damage real too. Lupo has broken almost every bone in his body, only bull riders are more at risk of injury than wrestlers"

Bard winced. "Don't they use any sort of protection?"

The assistant grinned through his tears. "Some, but it won't save them from the worst of the damage. I have seen broken backs, broken pelvises, broken clavicles, fractured femurs, split kneecaps, ruptured spleens and livers and skull fractures. "

Bard swallowed hard. "Goddamn it, and they do this out of their own free will?"

The assistant nodded. "Yes, and El Diablo was the best, he won eight out of ten fights, and always has"

Thran smiled. "The best wrestlers become icons, and make millions. Unfortunately there has been many deaths and not all are able to handle the fame well"

The assistant nodded slowly. "Yes, last year we lost two wrestlers, The yeti and Scorpion, The Yeti ate a bullet and Scorpion died of heart failure, he used a lot of steroids earlier and that shit does mess you up for life"

Bard swallowed hard. "I heard of that case, the guy did look like a bloody bull, bulging muscles everywhere"

The assistant made a grimace. "Yes, they ruin their bodies that way, these day some inject themselves with silicon or even food oil to look bigger, but let me tell you, the morticians have a hell of a job with them afterwards"

Thran scoffed and Bard winced, silicon? Cooking oil? Sweet Jesus!

The housekeeper stood there with her arms across her chest. "Lupo tried to end that trend, he was always trying to lead the young talents onto the right path but he didn't always have success, some tried to take the easy way no matter what. But they never lasted very long, a human body can only take so much"

Bard nodded. "So Lupo used the gym a lot I bet?"

He took a peek at a picture hung above the mantel piece, it showed Lupo as a rather young man standing next to his manager. Damn it, he had been taller than Thran, and the physique was nothing less than perfection. The assistant nodded. "He had his own gym, he didn't let anyone else in when he was training, he was pretty eccentric when it came to El Diablo"

Bard nodded. "So I have understood!"

Thran got up. "So you cannot think of anyone holding a grudge against him? What about the street gangs? I am pretty sure he did make them lose some members?"

The housekeeper shook her head. "No, they wouldn't have touched a hair on Lupo's head, they looked up to him as well. No, the only one capable of killing our Lupo would be the devil himself!"

Thran smiled, a sad smile. "It would seem so yes."

Bard sighed. "We have to talk to his manager, do you know where he is?"

The assistant nodded. "At the office down town, by the training halls. He is always there. He did take the news…he didn't react well"

Thran put a hand on Bard's shoulder. "Let's go, maybe he can shed some light on this"

They left the house in silence, it was obvious that everybody who had worked with Lupo were very loyal and dedicated and their respect for the man only increased. The training halls were placed in what used to be an industrial hall and it was transformed to a very nice facility for sports of different sorts. Most of the people they saw there were youths and Bard did see that some did walk by wearing fencing gear. They entered and saw several rings, some were training boxing while others were being taught what had to be karate by a small man with a very eastern appearance. Here there were no dirty floors, no spit buckets or even the smell of sweat, the place was clean, well ventilated and the colours were nice too. There was a row of offices at the back of the huge room and they were heading in that direction when a young man stopped them. He was wearing a training suit and wrist protection and he was rather grey in the face. "Please, tell us it isn't true, Lupo cannot be dead?!"

Bard felt guilty as he sighed and answered. "I am sorry kid, but it is. He is gone"

The boy started to sob and Thran tilted his head. "You were among his admirers?"

The boy nodded and swallowed. "Yes, an apprentice. If Lupo hadn't decided to help me I would have ended up on the street for sure, my family are damn poor and the neighbourhood the worst one. He gave me a future man"

Bard nodded. "I guess that this goes for almost everybody here?"

The boy nodded. "Yes, but everybody is welcome you know, we have some west enders here too, rich kids. But everyone is treated as equals, Lupo was very adamant about that. Race and religion or wealth matters not, only talent and will"

Bard saw that the people training had noticed them and some started to cry while a few of the girls there wailed, the teachers seemed to be in shock too. Bard grasped Thran and almost ran to the offices, only one was occupied by a huge fat guy who was sitting there weeping like a four year old who has lost a favourite toy. The man saw them and gestured for them to enter, he was red eyed and his hands were shaking almost violently. Bard remembered that Mr Beauville had been a very good boxer in his youth but an early onset of Parkinson's disease had ended his career. Now the man was trembling like a leaf but he was the best when it came to finding new talents and making them fulfil their full potential. Strict but fair was the words which were most used when he was described and Thran bowed his head. "We are extremely sorry for your loss"

The man sniffed. "Please sit down, and my name is Frederic by the way. Did…did he suffer?"

The voice was shivering at the end and Bard realized that this place was one where everybody were considered as family. Thran swallowed. "Uhm, well…"

Frederic let out a keening sound and hid his face within his hands. "Oh Jesus, who did this to him? Who could be so…cruel?!"

Bard tried to look professional. "We intend to find out, do you know of anyone who held a grudge against him? Anything?"

The manager shook his head. "No, Lupo was planning on retiring you know, he isn't young anymore and well, a life in the ring does take its toll of you, it doesn't leave you with many choices whence you turn fifty, that is for darn sure."

Thran did look intense all of a sudden. "Was this common knowledge?"

Frederic nodded. "Yes, he was planning on a last tour, the biggest shows you know, just to end it all with a boom"

Thran frowned. "They say he lost a few fights lately?"

Frederic nodded. "Yes, three in fact, some say he should have retired last year, that he isn't strong enough but I think those losses were just bad luck. The referees were young and inexperienced and his opponents some brute savages who should have been banned from entering a ring, there are rules you see and they broke them all, behind the referees back."

Thran's eyes had gotten narrow. "So, he lost three fights, but he won the next ones?"

Frederic nodded. "Oh yes, in his usual grand style. He has invented most of the jargon of this business, most of the most spectacular moves are his invention."

Thran did look as if he was thinking about something. "I know, I have watched some of his shows, they are always entertaining"

Frederic managed to smile. "Yes, some of the guys lack all creativity, they are just here to fight and earn money and we have to invent their character and their appearance and everything. But Lupo did it all on his own, he even sewed his own costumes. The man was unique"

Bard wetted his lips. "So, how much did he earn, for a show I mean?"

Frederic shrugged. "He would never charge less than eight hundred grand if the show was one of the big national ones, the ones which are being aired on TV. Small local shows? Depended on the number of spectators and the ticket price. I know he did a small show in some desolate town in the cascades four years ago for free, just to show people what it was all about. He kicked the ass of all the local bullies, apparently the town had lived under their heel for quite a while but he did whop their asses with grandeur, one of the guys ended at the local hospital with two broken clavicles and a fractured pelvis. Apparently he was known for beating women and children"

Thran cringed. "Injuries which are hard to heal and extremely painful"

Frederic nodded. "And well deserved. Lupo didn't accept violence against the innocent, no. he would fight for the weak with his own life and all his power"

Bard did look outside, a huge guy with long auburn hair and a rather fierce visage had stopped outside of the door, he did look distraught. "May I come inn?"

Frederic did look up. "Yes, of course. Detectives, this is Snakebite, aka Leslie Carlsen, he is one of the guys who fought Lupo quite often"

Leslie gulped and it was odd to see such a scary guy being close to tears, the man was covered with tattoos and he had some nasty scars. "I cannot believe it, oh man, Lupo…Lupo ought to live forever, he was…a saint!"

Thran nodded. "Yes, you fought him?"

The huge wrestler nodded. "I did, many times. He fought fair man, always. Losing against him was no shame, more like an honour."

Bard frowned. "How did he win so often if he didn't use tricks?"

Leslie smiled. "He was strong as fuck, and agile too, a freak of nature. Well, he did of course lose some of it after the accident and had to drop some of his best moves and he didn't fight quite as clean as before but after all, he didn't use dirty tricks."

Bard sort of grimaced. "I don't really know that much about the accident, could you explain it to me?"

Frederic nodded. "Yes, he was out with a friend one night, they had been off fishing in the bay and were towing their boat and as they crossed an intersection a drunk driver T boned the truck, the other guy died on the spot but Lupo got many fractures and also some ghastly burns. That was when he started using the mask all the time when he was in character. He didn't want to scare kids and women on the stands"

Thran smiled. "I see, it became his signature so to speak. But it was very unexpected that he was able to return to the ring at all wasn't it?"

Frederic nodded. "Oh yes, we never expected to see him fight again but he did, even if his body was battered and injured. You should see him after each fight when he had changed and gotten out of character, he was barely able to move at times. But he always gave his all while in the ring, always! He never spared himself for too many did rely on him."

Bard remembered something. "He did pay for an entire school?"

Frederic did look proud. "Oh yes, he did build a school in one of the worst areas of the city, the one the authorities did run there didn't do anything except educate villains and crooks. But his school? They have been on the top of the list of A students for ten years now, and these are kids from poor families, kids who would have been expected to fail if they had been going to the other school."

Thran sighed. "He had seen what poverty could do to someone, because he had been poor too"

Frederic nodded. "Indeed, he wanted to spare others from that fate"

Thran tilted his head. "We have visited his home and couldn't help but notice that there was a very nice car in the driveway? Has he decided to enjoy some of his money after all?"

Frederic did look puzzled. "No? That cannot be Lupo's, he always drove an old van, a wreck really but it was cheap and easy to drive and he had bought it when he was starting his career"

Bard sighed. "Alright, we will look into that, the van has to be somewhere."

Thran got up. "We will be in touch, and if you remember having seen or heard something odd do not hesitate, we would love to hear about it"

Frederic and Leslie did nod and both did look very sad now, Bard winced. If these men reacted thus then what about the rest of the city? They only had to venture outside to find the answer to that question, everywhere people were gathering and someone had placed a sort of shrine by the wall of the hall. Pictures, action figures and posters were placed there with burning candles, incense and what looked like offerings. Bard felt shaken, the man had truly become a sort of God to these people.

Thran did look stressed out. "Hurry, there is something I need to do"

Bard frowned. "What?"

Thran didn't even turn his head to look at Bard. "I think I am onto something but I may be wrong, it could be my own memory which tricks me"

Bard did start the cruiser and they drove back to the station with Thran constantly fidgeting with his sleeves and hair, he did look very agitated or nervous. He raced into the station and flung himself down in front of the computer, he turned it on and Bard saw that Thran entered Youtube, and searched for El Diablo. "What is it?"

Thran bit his lower lip. "Listen, the TV stations sends professional recordings, but they never capture everything. But cell phones are legal and many do tape the shows, I think I saw an amateur shot once which made me a bit confused. "

Bard sat down. "Confused?"

Thran was scrolling down the long list of video's. "Yes, oh yes, here, look at this"

Bard was staring at the image of the ring, El Diablo was covered with a black suit and he wore a mask and a cloak, his face was completely covered and the other man was dressed in red and he wore a sort of fur collar which made him look slightly lion like. El Diablo did evade a very nasty attack and threw his opponent onto the floor so hard they saw it give way. "That is his signature move, a sort of throw nobody else were able to do. But yes, I was right, there is something strange here"

Bard was getting very confused now, and frustrated. "For the love of God Thran, what is this about"

Thran raised a hand. "Wait a moment, just…wait!

He found another video and opened it in a new tab, then he started staring at the two video's, back and forth and his eyes were narrow. Bard didn't see anything odd about it at all, they did look almost identical to his untrained eye. Wrestling had never been his favourite.

Thran was scrolling again, opening more videos and Bard did realize that they did span the entire career of the man known as El Diablo. The shrink was obviously looking for something specific and he was working fast and with obvious determination, whispering something between his teeth as he scrolled and compared and opened more tabs. One of the others there shouted. "Hey. Thran, you are stealing the entire bandwidth here, what the fuck are you doing over there? Downloading the entire internet?"

Thran sent the man a wry grin. "Only the porn"

The other man shook his head. "Like I said, the entire net!"

Bard was curious too and then Thran suddenly froze and enhanced the video he was watching, he was almost pressing his nose against the screen and then he swore, with a very low voice. "Goddamn it, I knew it, I just knew it"

Bard was ready to tear his hair out. "You knew what?!"

Thran pointed at the screen. "Lupo and El Diablo aren't the same person"

Bard blinked. "Ah, what?!"

Thran was wide eyed, "Look, after the accident? Look at that move!"

Bard looked, he saw the masked man lifting his opponent and sort of spinning him around before tossing him at the ropes like a marionette. "Yes?"

Thran was rolling his eyes. "And now, before the accident"

He started another video and Bard saw the exact same thing, El Diablo lifted the opponent, spun him around like a helicopter and then tossed him into the ropes. "Uh, I don't see…Oh fuck!"

Bard stared at Thran who stared back. "You saw right?"

Bard nodded. "Yes, he switched direction of the spin, from clockwise to counter clock wise"

Thran's voice was low. "No wrestler just changes a move like that, you use your dominant hand to control the spin, Lupo was right handed, this man…" He pointed at the first video" Is left handed"

Bard couldn't believe it. "But…"

Thran did look confused and also eager. "After the accident someone else fought as El Diablo, I am darn sure of it"

Bard was about to ask if Thran could prove it when the phone rang, they heard Judith's voice. "Guys, get down here now, I have news, I cannot believe it but…"

Thran was grinning like mad man. "Lupo isn't Lupo right?"

Judith was silent for a second, then they heard her voice, very intense. "How in the name of holy fucking hell do you know? Are you a freaking psychic?!"

Thran giggled. "No, just a sports fanatic. We'll be there"

Bard stared at Thran. "But…everybody must have seen it? His manager, his friends? He was superstitious damn it"

Thran was already heading for the door. "He had been in an accident remember? They worshiped him, if he said he had retrained himself to use his left arm instead of his right one they would believe him, hell, I bet he could have convinced them that he was the second coming of Christ"

They entered the morgue and Bard hissed, down there the temperature was chill as always and it felt like a shock after having endured the heat for so long. Judith stood by the autopsy table and she was still a bit shaken, her eyes large and she stared at Thran, "You better answer how you came to that conclusion, before I did"

Thran smiled, a wide grin which showed all his perfect teeth. " It was easy, he changed his fighting style after the accident, and fighters never do that. It is a bad omen they believe"

Judith scoffed. "Jocks, I cannot believe you guys!"

She moved the sheet away from the corpse on the table. "Well, here he is, whoever he is"

Bard cringed, the scorched body was almost skeletal and Thran turned away, slightly green. The smell of burned flesh was suddenly overwhelming. "So, what have you found?"

Judith grinned. "Oh, I have found a lot you see, this guy was twenty years younger than Lupo, very similar to him in build but half an inch shorter, even without the partial cremation. He had some old injuries but none too serious and he was very healthy, a perfect specimen"

Thran nodded. "The difference in height could be blamed on the accident. Anything which can identity him?"

Judith nodded and pointed at the man's exposed mouth, the gums were pulled back in a sneer. "Here, he had a tooth with a tiny diamond in it, a very nice job so either it was a gift or he was loaded"

Thran was frowning. "The car, it was his, I bet"

Bard looked at Thran, his eyes were almost pleading. "Then who killed this man? And why?"

Thran straightened himself up. "Know what? I bet Lupo is alive, and our killer!"

Bard gasped. "What?!"

Thran grasped Bard by the sleeve. "Follow me, there is something I need to check, we need Elisa and her buddy for this"

They ran upstairs again and found Elisa trying to convince a gang of very rude reporters of the importance of being discrete. They didn't listen so Thran grasped his lighter and since he was very tall it was no problem holding the flame near one of the fire detectors, thus setting off the sprinklers in that room. The journalists were crying bloody murder since their equipment didn't like getting wet and Thran did just stand there, with a diabolic smirk on his face. Elisa raised an eyebrow but didn't protest, instead there was a hint of a smile on her face. Thran dragged her with him to the office and had her sit down by the computer. "Listen, we need you to contact that hacker of yours, Erestor. We need his help"

Elisa frowned. "Alright, but what exactly is this about?"

Thran sat down too and his face was intense. "Listen, That body down there isn't Lupo, but he has to be somewhere right? Try to find out if he owns anything anywhere, like a house or a cabin or just somewhere he could hide"

Elisa did look shocked but did log inn and before long she was chatting with her friend, he was obviously busy for they heard him typing like mad and several sounds did indicate that he entered different sites. "No, nothing is registered in his name"

Thran was thinking hard "Try another name, try Mariella Saint Le Crux, that is his mother's maiden name"

There was typing and they heard Erestor's smooth voice, "We have a Mariella Dutch?"

Thran slammed his hand into the table. "His ex wife's last name and his mother's first name, yes, try that one"

There was frantic work being done and suddenly they heard a pling. "Eureka, I have it!"

Erestor did sound very excited. "There is a small cabin registered to this person, near Gachichalla lake. It is very remote"

Elisa blinked and her eyes were huge. "That is tribal land, they won't let outsiders inn?"

Thran smiled. "Oh I bet they would make an exception for Lupo"

Bard swallowed. "So, what do we do? I mean, we don't know he is the killer for sure, and he could be anywhere really"

Thran sighed. "Bard, have faith. I do believe that this man is by that lake, and yes, he did kill that other guy. I am sure of it. The murder spoke of feelings remember, intense ones. You don't just go ahead and kill some guy like that if you are indifferent, no, it was personal and if Mr Crisp downstairs did play the role of El Diablo for Lupo he was close to the guy, very close!"

Bard nodded but insecurity was still visible within his eyes. "But damn it, we need to identify the guy, he has family somewhere, they need to know the truth"

Thran nodded. "Yes, I know, but we do need to find Lupo too, I have a bad feeling about this"

He turned to Elisa. "You know the right people, can you get us to the lake?"

Elisa grasped her phone. "Yes, my dad and the reservation sheriff are buddies, it should be a piece of cake"

She went to make the call and Bard stared at Thran. "But the cadaver downstairs?"

Thran shrugged. "What about it?"

Bard was almost foaming by now. "He had to be a wrestler too, I mean, how long was El Diablo gone after the accident? I bet he wasn't out of the spotlight long enough to train someone from scratch now was he?"

Thran froze. "Bard, you are a genius, I love you!"

Bard did bristle a bit. "I know!"

Thran threw himself over the computer and started searching and he did appear to know what he was looking for, after just five minutes he was tapping at the screen. "Here, this is our guy, take a look at him"

Bard did and gaped. "Oh sweet Bjeezes, he looks…"

Thran was beaming. "Like he was a clone of a younger version of Lupo right?"

Bard nodded. "So, what's the story?"

Thran opened a new tab. "Say hello to Mr Gonzales Right, born in Texas with immigrant parents, was a promising football player until he injured a knee and lost his scholarship. Was trying a new career as a body builder for a few years until he suddenly disappeared off the radar completely"

Bard nodded. "Lupo caught wind of him and saw his potential, and then he found the perfect man to take his mask and wear it"

Thran closed the tabs. "He has a mother alive, and three siblings but they don't have contact, apparently his mother wanted him to become a doctor or lawyer or something like that, brainy and well paid. But Gonzales was more brawls than brains unfortunately"

Bard grinned. "No shit, but he did a good job though, nobody suspected anything"

Thran wrote something on a note and handed it over to one of the other officers there. "We are going to get Lupo, give this to Mr Green. He can call Gonzales mother, he is the right sort of type for that kind of calls, he may cry a bit. "

Bard could just tag along, Elisa came running from her office, waving her phone. "It is fixed, the sheriff is waiting for us, he will take us to the cabin"

Thran grinned and grasped a few bottles of water from a cooler. "Here, it is a long drive, and a hot one for sure"

Bard was happy the cruiser had air condition for damn, the temperature outside was horrible now and even the road work outside of town had seized. They did drive rather fast, having a police car was sometimes a huge advantage but Bard felt a hard lump in his gut the whole way. What was this really about? Had this seemingly saint like man gone bonkers and just killed his look alike? The reservation wasn't a large one, the tribe there did hold onto their own culture and didn't really like intruders but the sheriff did seem like a nice guy. He presented himself as Willy Roundtree and they got into his pick up since the roads were less like roads and more like cattle tracks when they got to the lake area. The cruiser wouldn't stand a chance against the mud, potholes and washboards. The pickup was a huge one with room for many people and it had a distinct scent of cat pee and dog food. Mr Roundtree was chatting away with Elisa the whole way, his cousin was about to get married and they had to gather all sorts of stuff for the ceremony and they had huge problems finding the right things without going bankrupt.

Thran was tense and so was Bard, the cabin was placed on a sort of peninsula, and the place was idyllic, and very lovely with huge fir trees, meadows and grazing deer. It did look like a piece of heaven and Bard did understand why anyone would want a cabin there, it did look like a peaceful spot. There was an old van parked outside of the cabin, the keys were in the ignition and Mr Roundtree grasped his gun and left the pick up. "Mr? Lupo? It is me, the sheriff?"

No answer, they all walked over to the house and the door was unlocked. Inside was a very nice room which was dominated by a hearth and some old carved furniture. There were no personal belongings to be seen and the kitchen equipment hadn't been touched at all. Bard just knew it, this was not good. Elisa peeked out of the back window and yelped. "Oh God!"

They raced out the back door, there was a huge old oak behind the cabin, with branches spreading out wide. Something was dangling from one of them and it was white and moving with the breeze. Thran swallowed hard and Mr Roundtree swore. "Oh by the ancestors, I was afraid of that"

The man who had called himself El Diablo to attract the crowd had hanged himself, he was wearing a long white robe and he had a piece of cardboard attached to the front of it, huge letters were written onto it. "Diabolus fecit, ut id faecerem ei. Quae mea culpa. Judas"

Thran's voice was dry as he read it out loud and Elisa translated with a very odd voice. "The devil made me do it, all is my fault. Judas"

Bard sighed. "We were too late, we'll never know why now!"

Thran pointed towards the ground underneath the tree. "No, I think he has left us something"

There was a video cassette placed on top of a stone and a note laid on it, saying. "For whom it may concern"

Mr Roundtree cleared his voice. "He does look peaceful, almost…I don't know, satisfied?"

Elisa nodded. "Yes, there was a TV inside of the cabin, let us see what this is"

They went inside after the sheriff called the local coroner and his staff and then they put the cassette into the old VCR player. A shivering image did appear and they recognized Lupo right away, he did look very sad. "Hello, by now you will have noticed my absence, many may wonder where I am, or why I am missing. I will try to answer all questions but first I have a confession to make, a terrible one. For the last years I have fooled everybody, I have betrayed the love and trust you have shown me and I am so very sorry. But I did it with the best of intentions. After my accident I thought my career was ruined, and my heart was broken for how could I now earn money for my friends, for my family, for everybody who depended upon me?"

The image showed a picture of the young man who became the new El Diablo. "Then I found this young man, so like me, so much so that I knew it was a sign from God. He was willing and for years he did step into the ring as me, and he did play the role very well. The changes in fighting style was blamed on my injuries and everybody did believe that he was me when he was in the ring. He was such a good young man, a person I loved like a son, like I love my own family."

The image changed again, a picture from one of the fights. "Then I realized that something was wrong, he lost when he shouldn't have, and he did confess to having been persuaded into losing, to have been paid to go down. I was furious but he swore that it never would happen again, and I believed him. He was young, young men do mistakes, I know that from my own experience. Who was I to judge him?"

The image showed just Lupo again. "But things changed, I got older, I had a hard time staying fit enough for the charade to go on. I decided to retire and that was when…"

The voice broke a few times, he was obviously crying. "He went mad when I told him that I was gonna quit, that he no longer would be able to play the role. That El Diablo had to die."

Lupo was heaving for air. "He said mean things, terrible things and then he left. I felt guilty but I was sure he would see that I was right after a while, that he would return to common sense."

He was staring straight at the camera. "I have dedicated my life to helping others, to pave the way for the greatness of others, to help them become more than before. I have used very little on my own person, only the bare necessities. I have given it all away, and I gave Gonzales a good share of the money too. He was grateful, happy. He was glad to help others and gave some money away too, we were of the same mind."

He looked down and Thran was staring at the screen as if he was transfixed. "He didn't come back, and when I was paying some bills I realized that money was missing from one of the accounts. Several millions. At first I believed that it was a mistake, those money were supposed to go to an orphanage at the village where I was born. Then I realized that Gonzales had taken it all, and I have never felt such heartache, such loss. I trusted him, I would have left him with a legacy any man would be proud to honour but he turned around and spat in my face, in our believes and hopes. In everything I were. I hired a private investigator, Gonzales were spending the money, on drugs, whores, crime. I just knew it. El Diablo had to die, and this time for real"

Thran mumbled. "I was right, heartbreak and disappointment"

Lupo wiped tears of his face. "I called him, left a message, said I would return to Mexico and leave the house to him but he had to sign the papers, could we meet? He agreed and we met, I spiked his drink with a strong painkiller, then I drove him off to the old park and chained him to a chair before I made sure that he would burn, I had gasoline in the truck and some old army stuff some friend had left at my house because he couldn't pay to get rid of it since it was dangerous waste. And he did burn, he burned just as he will when the devil is tormenting him in hell. I guess I am going that way too, but at least I have done something good with my life, that ought to count for something right?"

He help up some rope. "Tell mama I am sorry, but I have killed a man in a most horrible manner, a man who was like a son to me. But I am no Jesus, I couldn't turn the other cheek when he robbed so many innocent children of a better future. I guess El Diablo got the better of me in the end, he was too much of an influence, I guess that goes for us both. I am not asking for forgiveness, he betrayed us all, but pray for my wretched soul. I am no better than Judas so his fate will be mine, minus the thirty gold coins that is. I was known as the devil, maybe they will remember me with some kindness, that is all for which I can hope. God be with you, and may he have mercy on my soul. My will is in my office, everything had been taken care off. This is the final goodbye of El Diablo. "

The screen went black and everybody stared at each other, Elisa's lower lip was trembling and Mr Roundtree was wild eyed. Thran did look almost content. "I guessed it, he must have felt so betrayed, so…disappointed in Gonzales. It made him lose it, completely"

Bard shuddered. "But dozing a man with gasoline and napalm and then setting him on fire? That is very extreme"

Elisa nodded. "Yes, but remember that these were men who embraced everything extreme, they lived life to the full, became symbols. It was so very symbolic, terrible yes, but with a certain grotesque justice to it. Gonzales had stolen from the poor, to Lupo I guess that was the ultimate crime"

Mr Roundtree nodded. "It was, he was so afraid that something would happen which would stain his name and reputation, it meant everything to him. His name was his key to eternity and when Gonzales did what he did he threatened that. Lupo would rather die than be remembered as someone who just took it all and left others with nothing. If Gonzales had been allowed to continue he would have done just that."

Bard sighed. "The things we do for a decent reputation"

Thran nodded. "Oh yes, but now El Diablo is truly dead, and his mother will get a body to bury which is if I may be so morbid, way better looking than initially believed."

Bard punched his shoulder. "Thran, you are truly macabre, geez!"

The site was overtaken by the local police and the three did return to the city to find out that Gonzales mother refused to come to claim her son's body. Apparently she had found out what he had been up to and was too ashamed to even bother. So his body would just be buried in a very anonymous grave on the local cemetery. Mr Green was happy the case had solved itself so fast for he had media breathing down his neck all the time and they did return in time to find him yelling into the phone. "NO! he wasn't possessed by the devil you twat, if you write that I will sue your paper back to before the days of Gutenberg, do you hear? Good! Shut up and wait like everybody else!"

He slammed the phone down and he was red faced and his eyes were bulging. Thran snickered. "My oh my, looks like Mr Green does have a temper after all"

Bard nodded. "Who would have known, but I bet he cannot wait to return to his own station, the worst things which happens there are cats which are stuck in trees and missing mail"

Both grinned and Elisa patted them both on the back. "Good work guys, at least we know there isn't some wrestler killing serial killer out there. But it was a tragedy from the start!"

Bard nodded. "You are right, it was. A noble man who tried to overcome a tragic event, only to have his very identity threatened. It is almost like some Greek tragedy"

Thran smiled. "Yes, but I know one thing which isn't tragic, we are at the end of our shift, the case is solved and the kids are waiting, ready for the beach, so shall we?"

Bard had to smile again. "Yes, let's. Right away, before they find more charred corpses. The afternoon shift can deal with them."

Three days later the body of Lupo was transported to his family and the ceremony was so grand the military was commandeered out to control the masses. Thousands did show up to see the funeral and show their last respects and many did sign a list which asked for him to be granted sainthood. It was doubtful that the Vatican would make a saint out of a murderer but people didn't really bother with that fact, he had tried to protect his honour and name and to their culture that was an honourable deed, no matter what. A huge mausoleum was erected and the fortune he did leave was contributed to the poor within the area. Each day many would come to pray by the tomb, hoping that the devil who was an angel would listen and take pity with them and when Thran heard about this he just grinned and said that Lupo, wherever he was, probably listened to them all and did his outmost to help, in death as he had in life.


	8. Radioactive

Chapter 8: Radioactive

This was the part of the job which Judith hated, with a vengeance. Having a young person laying there on her table, a human being who had barely had the time to live at all, to fully explore this mortal life. She sighed and washed her hands, the body was brought there earlier that morning by ambulance and this was a routine autopsy. The cause of death was already declared to be suicide and Judith did never start off doubting the conclusions made by the emergency workers. Apparently this girl had been found by her mother this very morning, laying in bed, already stiff and cold with bloody froth around the mouth.

Judith knew the pressure some young were under, this girl was going to a very prestigious high school, she had parents with both status and power and she was expected to excel in her every task. Judith had seen it all before, how it became simply too much in the end, a teenager doesn't have the mental strength yet to deal with it all. And the last years had most certainly seen a very worrisome trend arising, the frequent use of smart phones and social media had triggered a veritable avalanche of cases like this. Judith hoped that this wasn't such a case, she had encountered a few and they were always horrible. One boy she had examined had hanged himself because he had been bullied every day, he had received horrible text messages almost every hour and in the end it became too much.

This girl was just fifteen years old, she was a cheerleader, had a bright future ahead of her and came from a family where money never was a problem. Judith wished that she could say the same, her parents had been rather poor but this kid had a cosmetic surgeon and a high end lawyer as parents and Judith knew that she had to do this job as well as possible. They wouldn't want their beloved daughter back looking like she had been butchered. Judith preferred to do these jobs alone, she didn't think that her assistant treated the deceased with the right amount of respect. She turned the huge lamps around and got started, recording everything as she went along. The body was that of a girl in good shape, not too skinny nor overweight and she was free from any signs of abuse or violence. The mother had found a box on the floor, it had contained some very strong pain killers and Judith wondered where the kid had managed to get a hold of them, and why she had taken them. Desperation can force people into doing things which are very untypical of them and she had seen more horrible suicides than this one but something here just didn't feel right.

Judith trusted her guts, she always had and it had never failed her. She looked at the dead body, the girl was pretty, with long dark blonde hair, gorgeous green eyes and a good complexion, she wasn't the type of a person to be bullied, she looked like one of the popular girls, one of the winners. So why had she ended herself? Judith couldn't see why she should have chosen such a tragic course of actions. She started going through the internal organs, everything seemed fine until she got to the lower abdomen, there Judith suddenly stopped and her eyes got wider, she bit her lower lip and bent over the body, her gloved hand did carefully examine the exposed organ and there was no doubt. " Oh fuck, now this changes the whole game now doesn't it little one?"

She turned off the recorder, closed her eyes. A game changer indeed, the girl had been pregnant and judging from the size of the womb she had been at least three months on the way, was this the cause of her terrible decision? Judith felt a chill running down her spine, she grasped a vial of blood and ran over to the lab, this had to be checked out, asap. She had a terrible suspicion.

Bard was trying not to make too much noise, his husband had snaked his way down beneath the covers and right now a very devious tongue was doing incredibly naughty things to Bard's inner thighs. The kids were at school and Jean was out training some colts so they had the house to themselves and as soon as they were alone they had stormed up the stairs and into the bedroom, throwing off their clothes like they were on fire. Bard gasped and squirmed and strong hands immediately grasped a hold off his hips and prevented him from moving. Thran had had just that devilish glimpse within his azure eyes, the one which sent Bard's heart racing and made his legs feel like jelly. He had teased Bard the entire morning and it made the dark haired man almost mad with anticipation, Thran was such a tease and knew just what buttons to push to make Bard tremble with withheld desire.

They had the day off, the previous week they had taken some extra hours for the investigators who worked the night shift and now they returned the favour, and it was very needed. They had worked hard lately, Bard had been busy with some gang related murders and Thran had tried to teach two classes of police students about profiling. Too bad most of them couldn't separate between a nun and a serial killer, he was firmly believing that the students this year were Darwin awards candidates, and Bard tended to agree. Some of them were just daft. Thran was moving inn for the final part of this performance and Bard was seeing stars, he arched off the bed, body trembling. Then a shrill sound penetrated the silence of the bedroom, an insisting and very annoying version of Despacito played on a recorder. Bard hated that ringtone, now more than ever! Thran didn't stop doing what he was doing at all and Bard rolled his eyes, the phone was well outside of his reach and Thran wouldn't let him go at all. "Fuck…Oh…AAHHH, goddamn it…"

Thran grinned and let go, lifting his head. "Let it ring, it is our day off!"

Bard was trembling through the last stages of his orgasm and the phone kept ringing, it was their boss, only he had been stored on the phone with that ringtone. Bard rolled to his side, reaching the phone and pushing the button, Thran did look annoyed. "I told you it can wait!"

Bard shook his head. "Ah…Hello?"

Thor's voice was a bit distant. "It is me, why do you sound like a freakin' duck? You aren't coming down with a cold now are you?"

Thran snickered. "No, just coming"

Thor could be heard scoffing. "Jeezes, the two of you…I am sorry to disturb your whatever it is you are doing, I really don't want to know the details, but we need you here"

Bard groaned, in a way less pleased manner than just seconds ago. "Damn it, we were supposed to have the day off?"

Thor was moving about, the reception got better. "Yeah, I know, but we have a murder, and it is a nasty one and the others are in over their elbows with a hit and run downtown. Some bastard drove an SUV into a parade"

Bard laid back, groaning yet again and Thran took the phone. "Alright, where?"

Thor did sound tired. "Masonstreet number 84, it is close to…"

Thran interrupted. "The old city hall, I know. We are on our way in five"

Thor almost growled. "You'd better, this is a high end area, we cannot afford any fuck ups this time!"

He did hang up and Thran smacked Bard over the rear. "Damn it, I haven't gotten there yet but duty calls. You can return the favour tonight"

Bard got up, his legs were trembling and he felt sticky all over. "I need a shower"

Thran nodded. "Yep, you reek, but make it very fast, I know the tone of voice Thor used and I bet we are in for a real treat. He never sounds that shaken unless it is something very epic"

Bard scooted into the bathroom, he did finish the shower in two minutes, a new personal record and then he got dressed. Thran did look impeccable as always, just some strokes with a brush and some fresh clothes and he would look as if he had come from a formal meeting just minutes ago. Bard growled to himself as they ran to the car, he had barely time to leave a note for Jean and Thran took the wheel. "I know the house, it belongs to one of the richest men in this country"

Bard buckled inn, Thran could sometimes drive as if he was still on a racing course. "Really?"

He wasn't really that interested but Thran grinned. "Mr Bilbo Baggins, one of the founding fathers of this city, or rather, its wealth. He is one hundred and eleven years old now, but still going strong."

Bard got a bit interested after all, that old? The man had to be something special indeed. "How did he get so rich?"

Thran pushed the car to the limit, there wasn't that much traffic on the freeway at this time of the day and he swerved around the few cars they did catch up with like an expert. "Believe it or not, he made his first fortune selling gardening equipment during WW2. It was in high demand and then he went over to the US and started making machines for farms. Now his firm sells and manufacture everything from tractors to fertilizer and they even design gardens for people. All you have to do is call, they do the rest."

Bard swallowed. No wonder the guy was rich then, he had seen some advertisements for designer gardens and the cost had made him rear back in shock, you could buy several houses for the value of just one garden like that. The house was one of the largest in the city, old but very well taken care off and it did look like a fortress. There were several police cars there and Thor stood outside, smoking and looking pale. "So, there you are, what kept you for so long?"

Neither of them said anything, Bard just sent his boss a sheepish grin and Thran cocked his head. "So, who is murdered? I hope it isn't the old man himself?"

Thor shook his head. "No, it is one of the staff here, a fellow known as Mr Jacques LaRue."

Thran did smack his tongue. "Oh my, the famous chef?"

Thor nodded. "Yes, but it was a burglary turned murder we think"

Bard could imagine that such a grand house would contain a lot of valuable stuff, there ought to be both guards and an alarm system there. "Did the alarms go off?"

Thor did show them the way inn through the entrance and up some stairs which reminded Bard of the grand staircase in the movie Titanic. Some lords and ladies in Edwardian costumes would have looked just natural there. Thor shook his head. "No, and it is a mystery why! This place is a veritable Fort Knox, not even an ant can enter here without being checked out from its ass to its antennae."

Thran almost giggled but Bard managed to stay calm. "Was anything taken?"

Thor sighed, he did look worried all of a sudden. "Yes, and that is why I called you guys inn, I will let the master of the house explain this himself"

They heard footsteps and turned around, a tall but elderly man appeared pushing an old fashioned wheelchair ahead of him and inn it sat a person who at first glance did look like a sort of dummy. He was small and wrinkled and the hair was thin and white but the eyes were clear and showed both determination and intelligence, but also a sort of slight confusion. He cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. "So, this is the city's finest, pleased to meet two such…pleasant specimens"

Bard almost choked, the tone of the voice couldn't be misinterpreted, neither could the roguish expression within the old man's eyes. Thran didn't lose his cools though, he just bowed slightly. "We are very pleased to meet you Sir"

The man pushing the wheelchair caught their attention. "I am Theodore Gamling, Mr Baggins butler, I can help answer any questions you may have, my employers mind tends to…veer off a bit"

Bard nodded. "The chef was murdered?"

The butler nodded slowly. "Yes, a most horrible thing. Jacques is beloved by us all here, such a talented man."

Thran did blush a bit, Mr Bagging were eying his ass the same way a hungry dog stares at a juicy steak, he know knew why Mr Baggins never showed himself in public anymore, and why he hadn't married. Bard saw that the butler was visibly upset. "Tell me the details please"

Mr Gamling did make a grimace. "The lady in charge of cleaning the second floor here came across him just an hour ago, he had been beaten to death with something heavy, his skull was more or less crushed and the body pushed into the old fireplace. It does look grotesque"

Thran frowned. "In which room?"

The butler pointed up a flight of stairs which was wide enough to make room for a huge carriage. "The old smoking room, it is now a museum of sorts, lots of very heavy objects so we haven't been able to see which one was used"

Bard did see that the old man was staring at them both again and now his gaze seemed almost childlike. He was probably rather senile. "What do you mean?"

Mr Gamling rolled his shoulders. "It is where we store Mr Baggins collection of old weapons, we have pole axes, maces, swords, battle hammers, you name it. A hundred and ten objects which could all crush a skull"

Thor had returned downstairs so Thran asked. "Is the forensics there now?"

The butler nodded. "Yes, they are, trying to find the murder weapon, I bet they will spend most of the day up there. The body has been removed already, there was just so much blood, it made Mr Baggins very upset"

Bard stared at the stairs. "Thor said something had been taken?"

The butler nodded. "Yes, and it is something which…well, let me show you gentlemen what the thief took"

He lifted a folder from the room at the back of the backrest and opened it, handed over a large photo to Bard. He stared at a huge blue gem with an intense shine and he had to gasp. A pair of rings were placed next to it and judging by the size of them the gem was the size of a toddlers head. "Good God, what is that thing?"

Mr Gamling shrugged. "Try priceless? One of a kind? Unique?"

Thran swallowed visibly. "I have heard of it"

Mr Gamling nodded. "Of course you have sir, it is famous after all. The only gem of its kind in this whole world"

Bard stared even harder at the photo. "Is it a diamond? A Sapphire?"

The butler shrugged. "Nobody knows for sure. It was found in 1224 in what is now the Syrian desert by a nomad. It was sold to some wealthy merchant and then it made its way through history, and into infamousness. "

Bard did frown and Thran grinned. "It is called the Arkenstone, and the myths claim that everybody who owns it dies horribly. It is said to be evil"

Bard handed the photo back to the butler "I do not believe in curses Sir"

Mr Gamling nodded. "Neither do I, but there is truth in it. The gem is lethal. A sultan wanted the gem mounted on top of his crown and both he and the jewellery smith hired for the job died within a week of each other. They weren't the only ones I am afraid"

Thran cocked his head. "I have heard of this yes"

Bard did stare at him and Thran smiled. "The gem was part of a meteorite, and it is radioactive as hell"

Bard felt a sudden need to back off. "Ah, really?"

Mr Baggins were humming some song now, smiling to himself, it wasn't possible to make out what song it was though. The butler nodded. "Yes, in the old days nobody understood this concept of course so they said the gem was cursed but now we do know better. The gem was kept in a safe all the time and it was special made. It wasn't taken out ever, and only a copy was shown off to the public every now and then. Mr Baggins did come across it when he did visit some old European kingdom in the sixties. The ones who owned it was of royal blood and had kept the bloody thing hidden from the Nazis, which was a remarkable feat for some of the most stir crazy of them were ready to murder entire villages to get their hands on this rock. They say that if Hitler had managed to get this stone they would have had the A bomb way before we did"

Bard shuddered. "Such a happy thought, I am glad it is, or rather, was here"

The butler sighed. "The one who took it knew the house, the safe was hidden, nobody except me and Mr Baggins knew where it was and we have several fake ones placed within the house, with very believable copies hidden within. Whoever it was, the thief knew what he or she was after and how to get it"

Thran frowned. "So only you and Mr Baggins knew which safe was the real one? Nobody else?"

Mr Gamling did nod. "Yes, the company which installed it allowed us to bring the workers inn blindfolded and at night so they couldn't find the room again later on"

Bard found this a bit extreme. "But, doesn't Mr Baggins have anyone else here than you? Servants? Family? Friends?"

Mr Gamling made a grimace. "Yes, he does have a nephew, of a sorts. He is in his thirties now and a very nice young man, very decent but a bit naïve. He lives a few blocks away with his friend Samwise, but I doubt that Frodo would have anything to do with this. I don't believe he even knows about the Arkenstone"

Thran did look thoughtful. "I think I met them once, at a party at Thingol's. Frodo is an accountant?"

The butler nodded. "Yes he is, works for Westwood finances. A very good job and he is rock solid"

Thran nodded. "But the gem is stolen, and it cannot be sold, everybody would know it is stolen so whoever wants it wants it for him or herself. You can't even sit and admire it for more than a while I suppose?"

Mr Gamling nodded. "Yes, being closer to it than two meters over more time than five minutes is like taking a jog around the Chernobyl disaster site. It is very dangerous to your health"

Thran grimaced and his eyes were dark. "Then I fear that the reason for the theft can be a sinister one"

Bard swallowed hard. "Terrorism?"

Thran nodded slowly and he didn't look very happy at all. "Yes, someone with knowledge and resources. The cameras shows nothing?"

Mr Gamling nodded. "Yes, something knocked them out for ten minutes, that was all that was needed"

Mr Baggins started giggling loudly. "I bet they are beeping, oh yes how they are beeping"

Bard blinked. "Ha?"

Mr Gamling made an apologetic grin. "He remembers when the gem was placed within its vault, they used Geiger counters to make sure that the workers didn't get too much radiation"

Thran stared at the surroundings. "You have cameras everywhere yes? Were there any signs of where the culprit entered the house?"

Mr Gamling sort of shrunk a little. "No, no doors were forced open, no windows either but there was one door which was unlocked by accident."

Bard stared at him with hope. "Which one?"

The butler did look apologetic. "A very small door at the back of the house, at the other side of the kitchens. It is an old servants exit really and few know it is there. Mr Baggins has an old dog called Azog and it needs to be taken outside every now and then. The kitchen maid did take the mutt for a walk last night and forgot to lock the door afterwards, or rather, she thought she had locked it but the lock is old and hadn't closed as it should, that can happen with that sort of lock"

Thran was thinking hard, Bard saw it. "Could she be lying?"

The butler shook his head almost violently. "Amanda? No way, she is sixteen, and the sweetest girl imaginable. She is helping out in the kitchens and we wouldn't have managed everything without her. No, she has nothing to do with this, I am very sure."

Bard had started taking notes. "Could that be the door through which the culprit entered?"

Mr Gamling shrugged. "Hardly, he would have had to pass through the kitchen and there were people at work there at five this morning. Nobody gets through the kitchens unseen, you would need to be a ghost"

Bard growled to himself. "Well, are there other entrances to the house? Unusual ones, ones nobody would think off? "

The butler did hesitate. "Uh, the roof? The doors are locked though?"

Thran got eager. "Show me, right now!"

Mr Gamling rang a bell and a young servant wearing a completely ridiculous uniform came hurrying. "I cannot go with you, I have to look after Mr Baggins here, he cannot be left alone for even a moment. The old chap can still walk but at times…let us just say that every bar closet and fridge has to remain locked when he is around. He is a bit fond of…strong drinks"

Mr Baggins did grin from one ear to the other, he was truly a sweet old man in some ways. Bard thought so until Mr Baggins belched and started to sing again, with a thin and shivering voice. "Beer Beer, wonderful beer, oh how I wish that my barrel was here…"

The butler rolled his eyes and did look tired. He waved at the younger servant. "Allan, do take these gentlemen to the roof and do as they ask"

Allan did bow and Bard did wait until they were well on their way up the stairs before he did ask. "That uniform looks dreadful, like something from an old fashioned fetish party!"

The servant nodded firmly and he did look a bit bothered. "Yes, but the old ba….Mr Baggins does prefer this style. He is an old pervert still."

Thran did chuckle. "Oh I remember all I have read about him, he has caused some scandals in his time. Once he did run off with the groom at a wedding and another time he did seduce the son of a very important foreign dignitary."

Allan nodded. "One should expect his libido to have dwindled at this age but nope, the tree trunk can be old and rotting but the twig is still stiff!"

The stairs leading to the roof were steep and narrow and the three men had to walk behind each other to get up, Bard did shudder. There was no light there and the stairs didn't look very inviting at all. He was about to ask Allan if he had seen anything out of the ordinary when the phone rang. It was Judith's number and he did wave at Thran to tell him to go on, he would catch up with the two others afterwards. He answered and Judith's voice did reveal that she was upset right away. "Bard, are you busy?"

"Yes, very much so, how come?"

Judith was almost panting. "I have discovered something terrible, they brought inn this teenage girl earlier today and everybody said it was a suicide but I discovered something when I opened her up. She was pregnant!"

Bard frowned. "And she couldn't have chosen to end herself because of that? I mean, a pregnancy can be a disaster for someone that young?"

Judith was almost running, he could hear the sound of her heels. "I doubt it, she was a resourceful one, from a rich family. I need to talk to her parents, and find the father of that baby. The drug she had taken, it wasn't painkillers at all, it was something I haven't come across before, some mixture of substances and what if it was murder?"

Bard sighed. "Judith, I cannot help you now, I am sorry. We have a potential terrorist crisis on our hands. Can't you take care of this?"

Judith was slamming a car door shut. "Damn it Bard, I am a coroner, not an investigator. Thor will throw a tantrum"

Bard had to grin to himself. "So why are you doing it still?"

Judith was growling. "Because that kid deserves justice, and everybody is busy. I have called Elisa though, she meets me at their home"

Bard nodded slowly, the two ladies ought to be able to solve this. "Good luck to you then, do call if you find something"

He did put his phone away and ran after the others up the steep stairs.

The roof was not flat, it was dominated by a taller structure in the middle and Allan told Thran it was the elevators and AC units which occupied those rooms, and a couple of cisterns too. The house even had a generator in case of a power outage and they could collect enough water to last them for a month. Thran was still a bit puzzled, how had anyone known where the gem was? And for what purpose had it been stolen. Allan did take a look around. "I doubt that anyone has been up here Sir, the door was locked."

Thran nodded. "I saw that yes, but whoever the thief is, he has to be very clever!"

They stood there in deep thought as Bard caught up with them, he did take a look at the roof and they started to walk around, slowly. Thran tried every door there but they were all locked and according to Allan only the butler had the keys. There were no signs of any doors being damaged in any way and Thran shivered and frowned. "This is rather useless I fear, it doesn't seem as if anything here is out of order at all. "

Bard was about to answer when his watch started to beep in a very odd manner. He had gotten it for his last birthday from Thran and it was very expensive with a heck of a lot of functions besides showing what time it was. Thran raised an eyebrow and Bard lifted the watch, stared at the display. It was blinking, a very well known symbol was visible on it and Allan paled. "Oh shit, is that …a radiation warning?!"

Thran cussed and turned around, they had just passed by one of the air intakes for the ventilation system and he stood there and looked a bit unsure until he sort of got a grasp of himself and reached out, grasped the grid which protected the intake and lo and behold, it was lose. Bard blinked. "Oh goddamn it, don't tell me…"

Thran nodded. "The gem is in here, it has to be, the radiation is so strong, too strong to be residual, your watch wouldn't have noticed it if it were."

Thran reached into the air intake and he made a grimace. "There is something here indeed, ah, it is heavy"

He pulled with all his might and slowly he did pull forth his catch, it was a soup tureen, made from silver and very elaborate and inside it something did move. Thran did remove the lid and a bright bluish shine did appear. "We have found the gem it seems"

Allan did blink, he did look flabbergasted to say the least. " But…what is going on?!"

Thran sighed. "We have looked at this the wrong way the whole time, it isn't about the gem, it's about the chef!"

Allan blinked and his face was a bit blank. "Ha? But…Jacques was so well liked?"

Bard realized where Thran was heading. "Here yes, but he did have a life beside the job here too didn't he? I bet we will find the answer to the questions downstairs, as soon as we have put the gem back in its vault"

Thran held the tureen on an arms-length and carried it with a mine which told everyone he'd rather carry a live hand grenade. Bard couldn't blame him, that goddamn gem was so bright the tureen was glowing. They ran down the stairs and were met by Mr Gamling who was trying to wrestle a pocket bottle out of the hands of Mr Baggins, the butler was winning but just barely. Mr Gamling shook his head and sighed. "No more Glenfiddish for you this late, you will be awake until the next century goddamn it, and chase every skirt you see!"

Mr Baggins did giggle. "Not skirts, kilts! Oh that handsome scotsman, what was his name again…he had the equipment of a…"

The butler almost gagged the old man with a desperate move. "Sorry Sirs, he is…rowdy at this time of the day, and way too fond of his scotch."

Bard just shuddered, the old man had to have been a true libertine. "That is alright, but we have found the gem, in a soup tureen, hidden in an AC vent on the roof"

Mr Gamling did look as if his lower jaw was about to fall off. "What?!"

Thran sighed. "Where is the goddamn vault, the thing is hot, and I mean in the physical sense, it radiates heat damn it"

The butler stared at Allan with huge eyes. "Watch the old…Mr Baggins for a while will you?"

Allan made a grimace but did walk over to the wheelchair and the old man did try to grope his ass with a lusty expression on his face.

The butler ran ahead into a small room which was adjacent to a small kitchen and there he did lift a wine barrel and a part of the wall did move sideways and revealed a small opening in the brick wall. Behind it was a metal door with a combination lock and Mr Gamling did punch in the right numbers. The door opened and inside was a small room, barely more than a few feet across since the walls were extremely thick. Thran handed the tureen over to the butler who placed it in the middle of the opening rather unceremoniously and then slammed the door shut. "So, why would anyone steal it and just leave it, and how did that person get in here? And out?"

Thran smiled, there was a glimpse in his eyes which told Bard that Thran right now was in his best Sherlock Holmes mode, and ready to solve a mystery. "That my good butler is a good question, and the answer can be found within this very building!"

Judith was driving towards the home of the deceased girl, she used an ordinary car but she did have a police radio for she did enjoy listening to the things which were going on. Now she was trying not to explode out of sheer frustration, the traffic moved with the speed of an obese slug and she rolled her eyes and felt that she surely would have been able to move faster on foot. The radio cracked and she heard that it was dispatch contacting the emergency call station, she did recognize the voice of the lady on watch now. "We have a code red, Barton and Upper street number 8, female, age seventeen, collapse and unconsciousness, the girl is seizing"

Judith didn't hear the reply, she stared straight ahead at the rear of the car in front of her, it was the same thing, her instincts told her so. It was suddenly more important than ever to talk to the parents of the dead girl. Elisa was waiting by the driveway, her little blue sedan was neatly parked and the investigator did look like a lawyer today, with some fancy new shoes and a very elegant skirt and jacket. Judith did blink. "You look smashing today?"

Elisa nodded. "Because I know these people, or rather, their type. They will never listen to an ordinary cop but if I look like someone from their own social circle then they will be more friendly."

Judith sighed. "We need that, good idea. So, let us see if we can get to the bottom of this shall we?"

They went over and rang the bell and a woman who had to be the housekeeper did open the door and Judith introduced her as the county coroner. It was a title which held some power and they were let inn. The parents were in the living room with a couple of teenagers and a woman who could be the sister of the mother. Judith bowed her head. "First of all, our deepest condolences."

The mother sniffed, she was a beauty but now her face was red and swollen and she did look rather bad. "Why are you here?"

Judith tried to smile. "I am here because I fear that your daughter didn't take her own life"

The woman let out a wail. "Oh I knew it, Suzanna would never do something that terrible, she had everything, she was happy!"

The father did stare at Judith. "What do you mean?"

Judith took a step forth, Elisa was right beside her and gave her a bit of courage. "Suzanna was pregnant. I think she has tried to end the pregnancy, and it failed with her death as the result!"

The mother paled and the man grasped her hand, tried to support her. "Hanna, please dear, don't pass out"

Hanna was shivering. "That cannot be…We have taught her so well, and she knows all about birth control and the risks of sex. She would come to us, not try to hide it?"

The father nodded. "Yes, we would support her, no matter what! This…I cannot understand, how far along was she?"

Judith tried to remain calm. "At least three months, too late for a legal abortion"

Hanna wailed, a desperate sound. "Oh Dean, where did we fail her? What did we do?!"

Judith swallowed. "I am sorry to ask, but did she have a boyfriend? The baby had a father for sure"

Dean tried to wipe his eyes. "Yes…she did date a boy, one of the most popular guys at her school, Jonathan Blackmoore, a very nice young man"

Hanna sobbed. "He is coming over as a matter of fact, should be here soon"

Judith bit her teeth together. "Excellent, then we would prefer to stay here and wait for him if it is alright? Suzanna had a drug in her system which can be used to provoke an abortion, the question is whether or not she did take it out of her own free will"

Dean gasped. "Jonathan would never force her to do something like that!"

Hanna nodded. "He is a good lad, oh God, this is horrible. My poor sweet girl!"

Elisa did nod at Judith. "Do you know of anyone who would want to hurt Suzanna?"

The mother shook her head but Dean did make a grimace. "I think…I overheard her once, she spoke to a friend on her phone and the conversation was about a girl at her school. I just heard them call her Sammy and they said she was a bitch of epic proportions. Now, teenage girls does know the art of exaggeration to perfection but I did get the feeling that this girl was a real problem"

Judith nodded. "Did Suzanna have a phone or a laptop or something? Can we take a look at it?"

Hanna did nod. "Yes, of course, do whatever you wish with it, as long as you find out why my beautiful girl is dead"

Dean got up. "Follow me please"

They followed the tall man up a flight of stairs and along a corridor. They entered a room which did look very much like an ordinary girl's bedroom, pink and pastel colours, posters of movie stars and pop icons on the walls and a veritable sea of plush animals. There was a cell phone on the desk and Judith grasped it, praying it wasn't locked or anything. It wasn't, the battery was low but they plugged it into a loader and Judith took a deep breath and opened the message box. At first everything did look normal, a few messages from teachers regarding some school projects, some from her parents, a message from the local library concerning a book she had ordered. Then came a message which immediately sent Judith's senses reeling. "You bitch, you stole him. Don't think you can keep him you whore, I know what you are hiding!"

Elisa saw the message too and her eyes got huge. "The number is from a disposable phone, it cannot be traced. Shit!"

Judith scrolled further down the list. "Look at this"

She showed it to Elisa who read it out loud. "Jonathan is mine, I don't care if you have fucked him, you don't own him. I will get him back"

"That is one seriously disturbed person for sure, those threats?"

Judith nodded. "I can almost smell the bile yes, this has to be a former lover of Jonathan"

Elisa did grimace. "Or someone who believes that she ought to be with him instead of Suzanna"

They heard the door bell and Judith smiled. "If we are lucky we can solve this right now! I bet that is Jonathan himself"

They got back downstairs and saw a tall young man who did appear to be in tears, Judith did find him likeable right away, he did look like an honest and mature young man and they waited until Hanna and Dean had talked to him. Hanna did raise a hand. "Jonathan, this is the county coroner and an investigator from the main police office. They have some questions, they believe that Suzanna was murdered"

The boy did gape, then his eyes blazed, there was true rage and true sorrow within his gaze. "Oh God, I feared it!"

Judith did step forth and introduced herself and Jonathan was trembling. "Please, what happened to her?"

Judith did bring the boy with her into a small room next to the living room. "Jonathan, did you know that Suzanna was pregnant?"

He did take a deep breath. "Yes, she told me, I think it was…four weeks ago? Yes"

Judith did frown. "Why didn't she tell her parents?"

Jonathan did take a deep breath. "Because she didn't want to disappoint them, she would have to cancel her college plans if she had a baby and Hanna and Dean are wonderful people but it would crush their hearts if she had to abandon all her plans. She told me she was going to get it fixed"

Judith did stare at him. "And you did agree?"

He shook his head. "Heck no, my old man raised me to be responsible, I was ready to be there for her, even get a job and work to keep us together. But she…she was so distant, she didn't want to talk about it, even though she should"

Judith nodded. "She was in denial, unable to cope with it. But she did die with drugs in her, do you have any idea of where she could have gotten them? And by the way, do you know a girl by the name of Samantha?"

Jonathan scoffed. "Sammy the mad hatter? Sure, she has had a crush on me for like forever, and I cannot stand her, nobody can. She is a real…sorry ma'am but she is a bitch!"

Judith tilted her head. "How come?"

Jonathan did shrug. "She ruins it for everybody, she has done some terrible things to others when she thinks they have done something she disapproves off. She once did fill nair into the shampoo bottle of a girl she didn't like, and they do believe that she cut the brake wires on some girl's scooter, poor thing almost died"

Judith felt a chill going down her spine. "Jonathan, listen, if somebody were to buy say illegal morning after pills, where would they go?"

The boy did blush. "Oh, there is only one guy at our school who sells drugs, everybody knows it but there haven't been enough evidence yet to put him behind bars."

Judith almost growled. "That changes now, I bet Suzanna got the pills from him, I heard on the police radio that another girl collapsed today, those pills are lethal. Who is he, and where can he be found?"

Jonathan swallowed hard. "Bert, Bert Becker, he is a scumbag and a looser but thinks he is he-man or something like that. Everybody knows he is using steroids"

Judith rolled her eyes, huge and aggressive and unpredictable? Great! "He is usually hanging out around the gym hall, mocking everybody who isn't as large as himself"

Judith nodded. "Alright, then we do know who to contact next."

Jonathan wetted his lips. "Ma'am, if he sold Suzanna poisonous pills, make him hurt, please?"

Judith sent the lad a devilish grin. "Oh I will, believe me I will!"

She went over to Elisa and bid Hanna and Dean goodbye and then they both took off in Elisa's car. "Do you carry a gun?"

Elisa did sound worried and Judith nodded. "Yes, a 9mm, and more so, I have combat training. I think that Mister Becker will discover that I am a kitty cat with claws"

Elisa did pet her hip. "I have a 9mm too, I prefer not to use it but I will if I have to"

Judith nodded. "Don't we all!"

After half an hour they parked by the school and walked over to the gymnastics department, the school had a huge new hall and Judith did point discretely. "See? By the bicycles! The guy with the acne and the bad posture"

Elisa did nod, the guy was six foot three and his posture was indeed bad, he did look like some caricature of a gorilla, only that a gorilla would be way prettier. Judith whispered. "We both look a bit like teachers in these clothes, don't act like a cop until you have to"

Judith did see that the lad was talking to two other boys and they both did show that they were intimidated by the large boy, but they were clearly after something and Judith hid a cruel grin, she had no sympathy for drug dealers. She walked by like she had every right to be there and nodded at the two boys who sort of fled the scene when they saw the two adults. Judith did put on her prettiest grin, she was an attractive woman and she knew it too. "Hello there, listen I happen to have a friend who has a bit of a problem…a little one if you catch my drift? And they say that you can provide some…relief"

The boy frowned, his brain didn't work very fast at all but finally it did sink inn. "Yeah, I have them pills, they take care of it yeah"

Judith did batter her eyelashes. "Wonderful, may I ask where you get them? My friend is a bit…picky"

The boy just grinned. "A friend of mine, she buys them over the border"

Judith sighed inwardly. Mexico, they could be a mixture of God alone knew what, no wonder Suzanna had died. She cocked her head again and her grin got devious. " Ah, the friend of yours, her name shouldn't happen to be Samantha?"

The guy blinked. "Duuude, how do you know?"

Judith bared her teeth. "Because you sold some pills to a girl yesterday and she is dead today, that friend of yours did that on purpose and you are just as guilty as her unfortunately. "

The tiny brain did finally manage to sort things out and Bert let out a roar and charged at Judith, but he had misjudged her abilities. Judith had served as a doctor in the army and her training did also contain unarmed combat. She flipped the boy over like he was a piece of cloth and then she did twist his arm and heard a very satisfying popping sound coming from his shoulder and a scream from him. Elisa had already hailed a cruiser and another officer with her radio and before two minutes had passed by the cruiser rushed through the gate with lights and sirens. "Now you poor excuse for a human being, where is Samantha?"

Bert cussed, his arm was dislocated and he was in a lot of pain, Judith didn't care. "She is having class I bet"

They handed the cussing and swearing teenager over to the officers and then they ran over to the main building. They showed Elisa's badge to the door guard and was let inn and the lady in the reception did know where Samantha was and she did in fact look thrilled all of a sudden, this Samantha was obviously not very popular. Judith and Elisa did walk towards the classroom, it was a large one with a glass wall and the class was busy writing something with the teacher slowly walking around. Judith saw Samantha right away, she sat in a corner and was busy on her phone instead of working and her looks told Judith everything. She had never seen a girl with more Gucci and Chanel, and her school bag was a Louis Vuitton. Spoiled brat was the thing Judith thought and Elisa caught the attention of the teacher with a friendly smile. The teacher, an elderly woman with greying hair and a tired expression did enter the hallway and Judith presented herself. She told the teacher of the situation and the woman did gape. "Oh dear Jesus, oh that…Samantha is a…she is a problem, but that is…that is evil!"

Elisa nodded. "We know, can you send her out here? Without causing her to flee? We need to make her talk, there could be more lives at stake here"

The teacher grinned. "I can lie, she has lied to me so often it doesn't feel wrong at all!"

Judith smiled and her eyes were firm. "Do it, we will wait down the hallway"

The teacher did enter the classroom again and talked to Samantha who pouted and looked bored and angry. She packed her bag and exited the room and Judith and Elisa did wait for her, they both did look like teachers and the girl got up to them and glared at them. "So, what is this about? Some fashion magazine?"

Judith smiled and petted her on the shoulder. Elisa did walk behind the girl and fast as lightening she did handcuff the girl who shrieked and started to wriggle. "What the fuck?!"

Judith nodded. "Exactly, you are under arrest for murder miss, Suzanna is dead and so is her baby, and another girl is in the emergency room right now, probably fighting for her life so if she dies that is three murders, perhaps four. That will be…let me see…at least two lifetimes in jail, if not more"

Samantha gaped. "Fuck you! I didn't mean for the bitch to die damn it, I just wanted that brat out of her so she didn't have a hold on Jonathan anymore!"

Elisa stared at Samantha with narrow eyes. "The pills, you gave them to Bert right and told him to sell them to Suzanna if she came asking for them"

The girl almost spat at them. "So fucking what?!"

Judith shook her head. "That is premeditated, you got them in Mexico?"

She sneered. "Yeah, at a ranch, we go there to ride and have fun. The stable had all sorts of drugs. I just took them, you cannot prove anything!"

Judith smiled and the smile was not pretty. "Oh but we can, the jury will love this for sure, I bet they won't need even ten minutes to pass a sentence. "

Samantha was wriggling. "I am underage, you cannot put me in jail!"

Elisa smiled. "Oh no? youth camp then, run by ex-military trainers, oh they will straighten you up like none other, the discipline is rather rough"

The girl did pale, for the first time. "No, fuck, you cannot…there are no phones there…No!"

Judith was smiling again, a wide one. "Oh yes we can, and we will. It is exactly what you need. Some hard work and discipline. Well, if you confess the judge will perhaps be satisfied with five years instead of ten"

Samantha gaped, she was trembling. "But…it isn't fair. Jonathan was mine, he ought to be mine. The most popular boys have always been mine!"

Elisa did tsk, she shook a finger. "Young lady, when I was your age a girl who behaved like that was called a slut and I do believe that the title is very suitable for you. I think Jonathan is a very nice young man who has managed to stay clear of your clutches."

Samantha did hiss and Judith did grasp her phone and called the hospital, explained the situation and that the drug in question was one used on horses and cattle. The girl who had been brought inn had survived so far but now they had a much greater chance of saving her since they knew the type of drug. Samantha was hauled off in a police vehicle and Elisa called Thor and explained the situation. He did offer to call Samantha's parents, they were a famous pair of actors and he had never liked them so he would enjoy telling them that their precious little bundle of malice would spend some years wearing army green instead of Gucci. Judith did high five Elisa before they got back into the car, they had done it and possibly saved many lives for Bert had a whole bag of those goddamn pills. Judith felt happy as she drove back to the station, she had restored the name of Suzanna and solved the mystery, the family could rest assured that their daughter didn't try to end her own life but was betrayed. It was a good feeling, she just hoped that Bard and Thran were as lucky as she had been this day.

Thran was almost running down towards the kitchens and Bard was more than a little stunned by his sudden excitement. Mr Gamling was trying to keep up with them and he did look rather confused too. The kitchens of this house were grand, you could have fitted a normal restaurant into it and Thran did rush in as if he did belong there. The staff stopped working and stared at the tall blonde with huge eyes, he knew how to make an entrance for sure. Mr Gamling did grimace, this was against protocol for sure, nobody were to enter the kitchens like that, hygiene had to be considered at all times. Thran caught everybody's attention with a gesture and Bard realized that he really enjoyed this.

The staff were most younger people and Bard did notice that the kitchen was extremely well organized and clean. Thran did smile. "So, you lost your boss last night, have any of you noticed something else which is missing?"

One of the workers did nod eagerly. "Yes, a soup tureen, it is very valuable. Jacques was to polish it last night and now it is gone. It was a gift from some royal dude so it would be too bad if it was stolen"

Thran cocked his head. "Worry not, it is still in the house, containing the infamous Arkenstone."

Everybody was blinking, staring at each other. "Uh, what?!"

Thran did smile. "Oh yes, the one who murdered the chef is here now, within this kitchen."

Everybody stared at the person next to them with some shock but it did somehow look a bit theatrical and Thran continued. "Jacques was found murdered in the old smoking room, with a crushed head. It is normal to assume that the murder weapon was taken from the walls of the very room itself, after all, it contained lots of medieval weapons"

Mr Gamling nodded. "Yes? "

Bard was feeling frustrated, where was Thran going with this? His husband did walk over to one of the huge washing machines with nonchalant moves. He opened it and revealed a lot of freshly washed plates…and a huge club used to tenderize meat. "I am rather sure that you haven't served any steak for a few days right? "

The one in charge of the kitchens did step forth, he was a bit pale but Bard did notice that he didn't look all that surprised. "No, we haven't. Uh…don't tell me that…"

Thran was practically beaming. "Oh yes, this club is the murder weapon, now chemically free from fingerprints or any other sorts of evidence."

Some of the staff did look a wee bit green, the butler swallowed visibly. "What are you saying?"

Thran made a grand gesture. "I am saying that the murder of Jacques was a crime which wasn't planned, it was done in desperation and then someone helped the murderer camouflage the scene as a theft."

Bard did wet his lips. "What makes you say that?"

Thran turned to him with a wry grin. "Because stuffing the body into the fireplace is overkill, and why take the tureen? This was an act of fear or something akin to it"

Everybody were quiet, a few did look down. Thran did grin again, he did remind Bard of the Chesire cat for a moment. "So, who was it I wonder? Jacques was well liked yes? A respected chef and a genius, but everybody has a darker side, I bet his was very well hidden"

The one in charge did wet his lips, he did look nervous and some of the others too didn't meet Thran's eyes. "Come on, out with it, I bet you will feel better whence the truth is out there"

There was silence and the workers didn't move an inch, Bard could feel the nervous energy within the room. Thran did grasp the club, tested the weight of it. "This packs quite a punch I must say, it takes some power to wield it, or like I said, desperation. "

Bard saw that one of the workers were sweating, it was a young man of perhaps twenty and he was rather handsome and did look very pale. "You, yes you over by the oven there, you look as if you are about to pass out"

The young man gasped and shivered visibly. The one in charge did sigh and closed his eyes. "Listen, it isn't what you think, nobody was supposed to get hurt, and he brought it all onto himself"

Thran was almost purring. " Ah, go on, explain this all to us"

The man did twirl his chef's hat with his hands. "Jacques was a good man, a great chef and a good friend too but…he had a weakness"

Thran was staring at the cook with rather hard eyes. "Drugs right?"

The cook did nod. "Yes, the pressure of having such a job? It is terrible, everything has to be perfect all the time and he was working like a madman all the time. So yes, on occasions he did…indulge himself with some rather illegal substances. "

Thran sighed. "Right, and what happened last night, he was high right?"

The man nodded slowly. "Yes, he was…he did sometimes become very agitated when under the influence, almost mad I would say. And yesterday was no exception, he was acting as if he was insane. He took the tureen to polish it and demanded that Kurt here did help him with the job."

The younger man did almost sob and Bard did notice that he had a bruise barely visible underneath his coat. "Jacques did attack him…."

The cook nodded. "Yes, it was as if he had become an animal all of a sudden, he started beating Kurt with the meat tenderizer and Kurt did run off, in a panic. I ran after them but lost track of them, this house is a maze"

Thran nodded. "And then you found them…"

The cook made a grimace. "I did, I heard Kurt scream and ran towards the sound. Jacques had…."

Kurt started sobbing, he was trembling like a leaf and Bard felt a surge of sympathy. "He was trying to rape the boy"

Thran's voice was dry and the cook nodded. "He wasn't trying to, he was raping him and the club lay there next to them and I grasped it and I don't know, I panicked and struck him just once to make him stop and that…"

Bard finished the sentence. "Was enough to kill him, I see"

The cook stared at Kurt. "I couldn't let Jacque continue, he was inhuman, like some zombie. I have never seen anyone act like that before. When we realized he was dead we had to think fast to camouflage it"

Bard frowned. "Why did you do that? If you had called the cops right away it would have been deemed as an accident"

The cook bit his lower lip. "We didn't want his name to be ruined, Jacques was a good person normally, we did adore him but…he wasn't himself when he was high. And…we didn't want to risk our jobs. So I took the gem and hid it and tried to make it look like a burglary."

Thran did stare at him. "Only the butler knew where the gem was hidden? And what about the cameras?"

The cook did try to smile. "I saw Mr Baggins once when he was admiring the gem, I was polishing some silver ware and he didn't realize that I was there. So I saw the vault and the combination was his nephew's birthday, everybody knows that he uses that for everything. I thought that if everybody believed that somebody had broken into the house they wouldn't check us workers"

He pointed at one of the other men there, a short stocky guy with a crew cut and a somewhat red face. "Daniel here is an expert on computers, he did hack into the computer which controls the cameras and erased what they had recorded and made it appear as if they had stopped working for a while. "

Thran sighed. "You were all inn on it weren't you?"

Several heads did nod. One of the women there tried to smile. "Yes, most of us are, we did wash the blood from the floor, and helped Bob here stuff the body into the fireplace. If people found out that Jacques did rape a boy and used drugs the reputation of his restaurant would plummet and several would lose their jobs"

Thran turned to Bard. "Thor will love this, it wasn't terrorism after all, just an attempt at hiding something way more tragic"

Kurt did sob and two of the girls did hug him gently. Bard made a grimace. "Listen, are you harmed? Did he…did he really manage to…do it`?"

The young man did nod. "Yes, he…he did! He was so strong, he just ripped my clothes and…oh God!"

Bard got closer. "Are there injuries?"

Kurt nodded, he didn't look at any of them. "I am bleeding…and it hurts!"

Thran made a grimace. "Right, you are off to hospital young man and you Bob are going with us, don't worry, I know the judge and when he hear your story I bet he will determine that it was unintentional."

Bob was still pale. "I really didn't mean to kill him, I just thought I would give him a bump on the head or something, or at least get him off the boy."

Bard grasped his hands and hand cuffed him. "We know, we have good lawyers and they will make sure that you aren't convicted of anything, you tried to save someone after all"

Thran picked up his phone but hesitated. "You say he was on drugs, do you know what sort of drugs? "

One of the kitchen girls made a nasty grimace. "He kept his stash in one of the cupboards here, we aren't allowed near it but now…I guess it doesn't matter anymore"

She got over to a small cupboard in a corner and opened it. She reached inside and pulled out a bowl with some bags in it. They contained a sort of pills and Thran grasped the bowl and stared at the bags. "Sweet Lord, these are medication for animals?! Horses I think! No wonder he went insane!"

Bob swallowed hard. "He got them from some kid at the school downtown, a huge bully I think, named Bert? "

Bard petted Bob on the shoulder. "You do know that the gem is dangerous? You did put yourself in danger by handling it"

Bob nodded. "I know, but it was just for a few seconds and yes, I do have a copy of Mr Gamling's keys. He doesn't know it though, but we are tired of having to find him whenever we need to unlock some door."

The butler did scoff loudly and Thran did grin. "That explains it yes"

The girl who had showed them the pills did wet her lips. "Are we going to be punished?"

Her voice was thin and Thran did sigh. "You did help cover up the scene of a crime and that is rather bad but I don't think there will be much problems when the judge hears about this whole tale. So no, I doubt you will go to jail but perhaps there will be community service or something like that"

Everybody seemed to breathe a deep sigh of relief and Mr Gamling was obviously distraught. "Oh God, I am so sorry I didn't realize the truth, I have seen how odd Jacques acted at times but he was eccentric and full of himself all the time"

Thran just waved his hand. "Don't worry, the good thing is that the gem is safe and not in the hands of terrorists. But find a new place to hide it, too many know where it is now"

The butler did nod and they walked out of the kitchen and placed Bob the cook into one of the squad cars. Thran did call Thor and Bard did see that his husband did get an odd expression within his face. He did look as if he didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. Bard walked over to him. "What is it?"

Thran leaned against the car. "Thor was so relieved to hear that the gem is found but guess what?"

Bard tilted his head. "Uh what?"

Thran had a peculiar glimpse within his eyes. "Judith and Elisa have already arrested the kid who sold the drugs to Jacques, apparently he did also sell drugs to the girl who's death Judith did investigate. Talk about two flies with one strike ha?"

Bard had to shake his head. "The world is small after all, then we have some extra evidence. Judith will love that, I think that case did upset her, a lot"

Thran did squeeze his shoulders. "Yes, this has been a peculiar case. But we are done here, let's go. There is still some hours left of the day and I am hungry. Beside, you owe me one"

Bard had to blush. "Aye, I do. But not until we have eaten. Too bad the chef was killed, I bet he did make excellent food"

Thran did grimace. "Bha, I know them high end chefs, artful food which costs more than your monthly salary and taste like crap. No, there is a burger joint over by the next intersection"

Bard did laugh. "Greasy fatty burgers with lots of dressing and enough cheese to cause a major heart attack?"

Thran did slide into the car with an elegant move. "Oh yes, you will need the extra energy, soon!"

Bard did just shake his head before he also placed himself into the car. It had indeed been an odd day. "Thran?"

The blonde did nod and start the car "Yes love?`

Bard did grin. "You really love playing Hercule Poirot don't you?"

Thran did look like innocence incarnate as he drove out of the driveway. "Hercule who?"

The glimpse in his eyes said it all and Bard chuckled all the way back to the station.

There they met Judith who was thrilled to hear that Bert could be tied to even more crime and later that evening she did discover that the late chef in fact had a rare condition which left his skull very thin and fragile. The judge did drop any charge against the cook, it had been an accident and nobody could know that the famous chef had an eggshell skull. The kitchen staff had to serve food for the homeless for a month though and did it with both joy and zeal and Judith did tell Bard and Thran that Bert was placed in a very strict prison for juveniles. He would most certainly learn how to behave there. Sammy the mad hatter did spend five years in a correctional facility and managed to become the number one hate object of the entire staff within two days of her arrival, which ensured that her stay there became rather hellish. Some people just don't' know their own good.


	9. Slaying the dreamer

Chapter 9: Slaying the dreamer.

Josh was having a bad day, as a matter of fact he was having a hell of a day. It had started with him oversleeping and arriving to the office half an hour too late. Then the boss did almost suffer an apoplectic seizure while telling him in details what would happen if he was ever late again and then the goddamn delivery truck wouldn't even start. The batteries were dead. Now he was more than an hour late with the deliveries and he had been speeding through the city in order to make up for the lost time. The first two deliveries had gone smoothly, he had dropped off some packages at an antiquity store downtown and then a huge package at a private home. Now he did stand parked outside of a clothes store and he felt that his blood pressure was reaching the levels of Krakatau just before it blew itself to smithereens. The store owner was arguing and nagging and going through every single item on the list, it wasn't Josh who decided the costs of the delivery damn it! Arguing with the driver didn't make things even a wee bit cheaper. The store owner was this elderly woman with dyed hair and a terrible dress which in his eyes looked like something a clown would wear, it wasn't even sewn very well.

He was about to burst, he was running late, had ten more deliveries to make before lunch and he knew that some of the customers would complain to the boss if he was late. He couldn't afford to lose this job, damn it!

The old hag was gesticulating like mad, pointing at the list. "We did order two boxes of designer jeans, where is the other one?"

Josh did count to ten, slowly. "I do not know ma'am, I was told to pick up one box and I have, if one is missing I suggest you contact the ones you ordered them from, obviously they have made a blunder"

The woman almost sneered at him and Josh prayed to God the woman didn't have kids, people this nasty shouldn't breed. He had seen friendlier looking piranhas. "They said the parcels were sent, parcels, not parcel!"

Josh felt a need to roll his eyes but didn't, you had to be polite towards the customers, even when they almost drove you to madness. "I don't know anything about that ma'am, there was one packet in our warehouse with this address, not two"

She growled and found a pen to sign for the delivery and that was when Josh accidentally did look up. Why he didn't know but for a second there had been a shadow passing by and he saw something dark and rather large in the air and then there was a thud and the entire car did shake violently. The woman started to scream, wild piercing wails as she backed away towards the wall and Josh turned around. The middle of the delivery van was pushed down, and formed a V and in the middle of the V…..He too backed away, then he aimed for one of the huge pots placed outside of the store and hoped that it wasn't an antique before he puked into it, rather violently.

Bard was staring at the van with a sense of slight disbelief, he had never seen anything this grotesque before. Thran was by his side and the tall blonde was mumbling something and looked more intrigued than disgusted. He did look up, the building was very tall, at least 30 floors and the fall had been so long the body had reached terminal velocity. No wonder the van was a total wreck. Judith was working on the body, or rather, the remains of the body. The impact had made the person more or less explode and she was standing on a small ladder and already she was covered with blood. Bard didn't go any closer, there was blood and gore everywhere and the store owner and the delivery truck driver had both been taken away for treatment. Both were in shock and also covered with possible evidence. The entire street was sealed off and the journalists were as usual swarming around the perimeter like a bunch of hungry blowflies. He ignored them. "This has to be a suicide right?"

Judith did climb down from the van, she pulled her gloves off with a sigh. "Possibly, but we cannot know for sure"

Thran did cock his head, he and Bard had enjoyed a short vacation and had just returned and their energy levels had been recharged for sure. Jean had taken care of the kids the whole time and it had renewed their bond, to the point where they were hardly able to keep their hands off each other. "But you do know something right?"

The coroner nodded. "The deceased was a female, probably in her early twenties or late teens, slightly obese and also wearing naught but a nightgown of the fancy type."

Bard did cringe. "Gods, that young?"

Judith did nod. "Yeah, I would most definitely suspect this to be a suicide but I will need to look deeper into it for sure. And I bet she must have lived in this building, there are apartments at the top levels."

Bard frowned. "They are expensive? How can a young person afford one of those?"

Judith sighed and nodded to the two men who were responsible for removing the body. "It could be that someone else was paying the rent? We need to find out who she is"

Thran pointed towards the building. "There is a building manager here for sure, he has to know who the tenants are"

Bard smiled. "Yes, let us hear if that person knows the identity of the jumper"

The shop had been closed for the day and the crowd outside of the red tape was leering, Bard felt an urge to yell at them and go away. It was a dead person damn it, a human being and the sight of many cell phones being lifted to film or take photos made his blood boil. Thran did walk with his usual smooth gait and he entered the building. There were many gathered in the foyer, the ground level was a sort of shopping mall and then there were apartments on top of it and he did clap his hands and the crowd did fall silent. "Is there anybody here in charge of the building?"

A stocky woman did step forth, she was probably in her early sixties and did look like a warm and caring person but there was also some sternness in her eyes. "I am the manager of this estate."

Thran did present himself and Bard and the woman did look very sad. "I am Cayla North, I have been in charge here for twenty years and we have never had a suicide! These are high end apartments"

Bard just smiled but thought that the cost of the apartment didn't in any way dictate the behaviour of the one living in it. He had in fact encountered far more suicides in nice places than in the bad areas of the city. Thran did smile and put his charm on and the woman smiled back, almost transfixed. "The dead person was a young woman, a bit overweight and with dark hair. Do that ring a bell?"

Cayla did blink and then she nodded. "Leonora Hampton Smith, it can only be her. She is the only young woman living here right now"

Thran did cock his head and there was a curious gleam in his eye. "She was awfully young for such a nice home? Did somebody pay for her"

Cayla nodded. "Yes, her father. He is a stock broker and has more money than the bank I guess. Leonora is an art student and he wanted her to have a nice place to live, in a safe neighbourhood."

Cayla did look visibly upset and Thran did put a hand on her shoulder, very soothingly. "Did you know her?"

Cayla nodded and made a grimace. "You must think I am some awfully soft hearted old goose but I did truly like her, most young girls these days are terribly shallow but Leonora was different, a real person. She had her own struggles poor thing, perhaps that was what caused this?"

Bard had gotten his note pad ready. "What sort of struggles?"

Cayla sat down on a chair and the two men did also sit down , the others there did disperse and the foyer became rather quiet. "She had problems with her weight poor thing, she tried to stay in control of it but couldn't. She had such little faith in herself because of it, even if she was wonderfully talented"

Bard did frown. "What sort of talent?"

Cayla did wipe her nose, she was becoming increasingly emotional now that the shock wore off. "Oh she was a painter, she did paint a portrait of my grandson for me and it was wonderful. I just cannot believe that she is gone, that she would chose such a terrible solution"

Bard nodded. "We would like to take a look at the apartment if you don't mind?"

Cayla nodded and got up again. "Of course, just follow me officers"

She went to the elevators and they did enter one, Bard did notice that Leonora had lived on the top floor. The corridor they entered weren't long, there were just three apartments there and they were all very large. Cayla did find some keys and managed to smile faintly. "One of the apartments is empty and has been for four months, then there is Mr Pete Darwin in number two and Leonora in number three"

She walked over to a very elegant door and opened it, it had not been locked and Bard and Thran did exchange a glance. The girl hadn't planned this very well, it did seem as if it was done in a fit of panic. The apartment was lovely, very light colours did dominate every room and one was transformed into a sort of work place. There were scaffolds and paintings and equipment everywhere and Bard had to admit that yes, she had to have been very talented indeed. Some of the paintings were just wonderful and Thran did walk over to one and frowned. "Look at this"

Bard walked over and saw that the painting was only half finished, it was a painting of a horse and only the head and front legs were finished, the rest of the body had been drawn with chalk but hadn't received any paint. Thran did walk over to the work bench, he did study it carefully and then he grasped a palette and smeared his finger across it. "This paint is almost dry, but not quite. She was painting earlier this morning, this is acrylics and they do dry fast"

Bard frowned. "Really?"

Thran nodded. "Earlier this morning this woman had purpose, she was going somewhere, she had plans. Then she walks up to the roof and throws herself to her death, a very unglamorous one too"

Bard swallowed hard. "You are saying?"

Thran made a grimace. "She didn't commit suicide, not the way we define the term. "

He turned to Bard. "Take a look at the bedroom"

Bard did peek in through the door, the bedroom was very cosy and the bed was made and some clothes lay on it, as if she had been ready to get dressed for the day. There were flowers in a vase, they were fresh and there was a faint scent of perfume there. Thran nodded. "Tell me what you see"

Bard winced. "Ah, you are a profiler, I am not?"

Thran grinned. "Try, what does this make you feel? Does anything look out of the ordinary?"

Bard tried to think like a young lady and stared at the scene. "Uh, she hadn't dressed yet? And it was rather late? "

Thran nodded. "She hadn't dressed because she was expecting somebody, the nightgown she wore was an expensive one, and very elegant. There are fresh flowers here, perfume, there is a bottle of champagne in a cooler in the kitchen."

Bard hadn't even noticed that and made a grimace, he should have seen that. "Yes, I think she was expecting somebody, a lover?"

Thran did walk to the door where Cayla did wait. "Do this building have surveillance of any sort?"

Cayla nodded. "Of course, cameras everywhere."

Thran did look intense. "Then do show us please, I think this may solve the case"

Bard stared at his partner with narrow eyes. "You are sure this wasn't just a suicide?"

Thran nodded. "Positive. Oh she did do the deep herself but I am willing to bet this month's salary that something or someone did trigger her"

Cayla did taken them down to an office and it did look almost like the control room of a casino, there were screens everywhere and Cayla did sit down and started typing. Some of the screens did come to life and they saw a picture of the corridor outside of Leonora's apartment. It was empty and Bard saw that the time was six in the morning, Cayla did fast forward the recording, they saw naught. The corridor was empty but then, just minutes before the body hit the van the door to the apartment did fly open and a woman could be seen running. She wore just the nightgown and she did look as if she had received a most horrible shock, her eyes huge and dark and her body control bad. She did almost crash into the wall several times and even if there wasn't any sound on the recording Bard could imagine her screaming and wailing, Thran was moving his lips slightly and staring intensely at the screen. "She is devastated, heart broken. That is a person having a complete emotional meltdown"

He turned to Cayla. "Is there access to the roof from that floor?"

Cayla nodded. "Yes, an emergency exit next to the elevators"

Thran took a deep breath. "Let's go, we have to check this roof"

Cayla did show them the way once more and Bard cringed. The roof was covered with concrete and it was very rough, the girl had been barefoot and here were in fact bloody footprints for a few meters before the edge of the roof. Thran did look shocked. "She didn't slow down. She didn't hesitate, she just took the plunge. What in hells name did happen to her?"

Bard swallowed hard. "Beats me!"

Thran sighed. "Let us return to the apartment, I bet we may find more clues there"

Cayla did lend them the keys since they knew the way now and they entered the rooms once more. Bard saw that everything was very tidy and organized but not overly so, this wasn't a person suffering from some OCD. There was fresh food in the fridge, some unpaid bills in a pile on her desk and plans in her notebook. She was scheduled for a meeting with a gallery owner the next day and she also had some other meetings they assumed were her friends. Also she had lectures almost every day and there were books about art history spread around the livingroom. Thran was intense. "She wasn't planning on ending her life, she wasn't depressed. This is the home of a person with no serious mental problems, she was shocked into doing it"

Bard had to agree, nothing there spoke of any sort of sickness, or problems of any sorts. Thran did walk over to the desk, there was a laptop on it and it was on but locked with a password and he made a grimace. "Right, this is work for Elisa and Erestor. I bet we will find the answer on this machine"

Bard nodded and bagged the laptop. They were about to enter the elevator and ask the CSI technicians to search through the apartment when Bard's phone rang, it was Thor. His boss did sound a bit odd, almost choking and Bard frowned. "Bard? It is me, ah, I will send you a link but be warned, it is…unpleasant"

Bard did look confused and when the phone beeped he did show the link to Thran who just nodded. "Go on, I wonder what this is about?"

The link was to an obscure website where people could share video's youtube would decline and Bard had to swallow hard. Somebody had filmed the entire event, they saw how Leonora did appear at the edge of the roof, as if she was trying to run in thin air and she fell like a rock towards the van. Thran was hoarse. "Bard, the one filming this knew she would jump"

Bard watched in horror as the body hit the van, he felt nauseous. "What?"

Thran was a bit pale. "The way it was filmed, the focus, everything. It was planned, set up. The camera didn't lose sight of her even once and filmed even before she appeared at the top of the building. The one filming this knew what would happen!"

Bard felt a sinking feeling, the video showed Leonora's body spread out on top of the van, the driver and the shop owner backing away, it was all shown in great detail. This was no cell phone camera but a real one, a good one too. There was text showing up on the screen and Bard let out a small whimper. "FAT HOES FLY!"

Thran saw it and his eyes got huge. "Oh fuck!"

Bard just nodded. "I couldn't have said it better myself!"

Thran was almost spinning around himself. "Hurry, we have to get this laptop opened, I have a terrible feeling here"

Bard did run into the elevator and pushed the button frenetically. "How come?"

Thran was panting. "Hoes Bard, hoes, not hoe!"

Bard felt his stomach drop. "Ah shit, plural"

Thran nodded. "He has either done this before or he is going to do it again, we have a serial killer on our hands"

Bard closed his eyes, then he did focus and grasped his phone again, rang Elisa. "Elisa? It is me, Bard, do me a favour, check if there has been any unusual suicides lately, young females, overweight? Check the entire city, heck, check the country!"

Elisa mumbled something affirmative and Bard did hang up. Thran took a deep breath. "The link, was there any descriptions in it?"

Bard opened it again, the account was a temporary one and anonymous and he already knew that this particular website was infamous for allowing almost everything, even illegal content. Thran was intense. "Go to the main page and do a search"

Bard clicked into the website's main page and it was slow to load, the cell phone didn't have that much juice. "Search for fat hoes with large letters"

Bard stared at him. "No? He cannot have…."

Thran sent him a stiff grin. "Only one way to find out"

Bard did punch in the search words and one more video did appear, from another account but the quality of the shot did reveal that it was the same sort of camera. They saw a narrow road which had to be somewhere outside of the city, it was crossing a railway and Bard cringed, the shot did catch the headlights of an oncoming freight train and then something suddenly came running into the lights and they did in fact hear the sound of the locomotive's breaks and the blaring of a horn. The person got hit and flew through the air like a ragdoll and hit a wall next to the rails with a sickening thud. Thran closed his eyes, the text appeared again, unchanged from the last video. Bard felt his hands tremble. "That is…."

Thran just breathed. "Horrible!"

They had reached the foyer and exited the building, the technicians were on their way up but Bard didn't think they would find anything. There was no sign of any other person in the apartment than Leonora. Thran did stop by the car and his eyes were dark. "This will not end here Bard, I can feel it. This person is ruthless, heartless and convinced that he is in his right to do this"

Bard petted the laptop. "So you think this is someone who targets obese girls?"

Thran nodded. "Most certainly, God alone knows why"

Bard winced. "The first video had already gotten several thousand hits"

Thran sent him a sad grin. "There is no end to human depravity I fear"

They were met by Elisa at the station, she was clearly upset and she had an expression on her face which spoke of disgust and disbelief. "I found two, a girl who got hit by a train a month ago and another who was killed by a speeding truck two months ago"

Bard nodded. "We have already seen the train incident yes, it was on the web. "

Elisa took a deep breath. "The truck incident was captured by a security camera and uploaded by some moron working in the bank where the camera was mounted, it got almost twenty thousand hits and look at this!"

She turned her screen towards them and in the line of comments there were suddenly three well known words. Thran sighed. "And there the culprit got the idea for filming the deaths, he is seeking attention"

Bard handed over the laptop. "Please, you must get this opened, asap. This culprit works on a time scale, one month between each victim."

Elisa did grasp the laptop and plugged it into a power source, then she did turn it on and the box asking for a password did appear. She tilted her head. "This person wasn't very careful, it is a standard security program and I bet I can crack this one in no time."

She did plug an USB unit into the laptop and letters and numbers started to fly by at a startling rate. "It is a very clever program, it senses if the computer does recognize a certain letter or number and it can usually crack a normal password relatively easy."

A line of letters started to form and Bard read it out loud. "Fluffykitty87?"

The password box did disappear and a welcome did flash by before the usual desktop icons did show up. Elisa did look up at them. "So?"

Thran did wet his lips. "Check the email"

Elisa opened the email and stared at a long row of mails, most were from what appeared to be galleries and some were from other students. There were also a few there from the school and some spam but nothing which could explain Leonora's sudden suicide. Thran pointed at one of the mails. "That appears to be a close friend of hers"

Elisa opened the mail which was titled. "How you doing girl?"

It was just text, from someone named Christine and it was held in a very joyful tone. "Hi there gorgeous, how's it going? Gotten any yet? Oh don't try to lie to me Leonora, I know what you have been up to, I am so glad for you. But do tell me more, who is he? Is he handsome? I am dying to find out girl, don't keep your cards so close to your chest. I'll see you tomorrow at the lecture. Love C"

Bard stared at the mail. "Christine Woodstem? Should we ask her to come to the station?"

Thran nodded. "Yes, she knows something. I will make a few calls, the school is not far from here and I bet I can get the headmaster to send her over asap"

Bard sat down and stared at the laptop, some people lived their entire lives through such devices and he was a bit shocked by it and also very worried. Neither of his kids were allowed to use the computer they had at home unsupervised and they didn't even have a facebook account. There had been some complaining but they had understood when Bard explained the dangers and traps one could encounter out on the world wide web.

It too a little more than an hour, then a crying young woman was being escorted into one of the interrogation rooms by one of the female officers. The girl was a petite thing with long auburn hair, a pair of striking grey eyes and a heart shaped face. Bard did present himself to her and she did sniff and tried to act dignified but it was clear that she was in shock. "Please, tell me it isn't true? Leonora cannot be dead? I spoke to her two days ago!"

Bard sighed "I am afraid it is true, she did commit suicide this morning"

Christine was pale. "Oh Jesus Christ, why? She had no problems? She was going to get a place at a good gallery, her work at the school top notch?"

Thran was standing behind the one way mirror to evaluate the girl's reactions and she was honest, she was truly shocked and grieving. Bard swallowed hard. "Christine, we need to know more about her, did she date?"

Christine nodded. "Oh God, yes, she didn't want to tell anybody but she did. You see, she has suffered for so long because of her…weight problem and believed that nobody would ever like her and then…."

She sniffled and Bard did hand over some tissues. "Yes, go on?"

Christine tried to smile. "I wasn't supposed to know you see, but I did catch a glimpse of something on her laptop. And she suddenly started acting differently, she was glowing man, being completely radiant and only a girl in love does act like that."

Bard nodded. "What did you see?"

Christine made a grimace. "A dating site, for people with weight problems. Bootylicious babes or something like that."

Bard had to sigh, perfect! It was probably the sort of site where no tracks could be found and the users were protected by firewalls thicker than the great wall of China. Christine did sob. "Did…did somebody from that site make her do this?"

Bard tried to smile. "That is what we are trying to find out!"

He turned to Thran who left the room and ran to Elisa's office. She was busy searching through the log on Leonora's laptop and nodded when Thran mentioned the web site. "I have found it already, it isn't one of those kinky sites, but a really serious one, trying to connect people who otherwise would struggle with their love life. "

She opened the site and Thran did see many pictures of mostly women who were from slightly overweight to morbidly obese. There were also statements from happy customers who told about their success stories and the happiness they had found. Bard did join them, he had sent Christine on her way after having given her his phone number and a strict order to call if she did remember something else.

Elisa was scrolling through the page. "You have to be a registered member to gain access to the chat, and you do have a private mailbox too. I bet Leonora's does contain the reason behind her suicide."

Bard frowned. "Can you access it?"

Elisa shook her head. "Nope, the passwords are stored in a central computer. I think we have to call the company behind the site and demand that they open her account to us"

Thran nodded. "I will do that, I can be very demanding if I have to. In the meanwhile, bring up the files for all three suicides we know about so far, we have to compare them for similarities. It could be that this bastard does target certain traits."

Thran ran off to make the call and Elisa got busy again. She switched to her own computer and started searching and before long they had the case files for the two previous suicides. Both had been ruled as accidental deaths and thus little had been done but there were some pictures there and Bard sighed. "Oh yes, he has a type for sure, beyond doubt!"

Elisa nodded. "Young, no more than twenty five, medium height, not morbidly obese but clearly overweight, dark hair and dark eyes and a pale complexion, this has to mean something!"

Bard sat down. "You can bet your ass it does, search the archives for deaths which involve women like that, don't bother with age. I think this guy has experienced something which has turned him into a monster"

Thran did return, he had a dark expression on his face and a triumphant although wicked grin around his mouth. "They agreed, after I did threaten them with a huge law suit and accusations of trafficking. Some of the profiles there are clearly of minors"

He did show Elisa a note and she did type in the words on it. A picture of Leonora did show up, she was smiling and leaning against a tree, looking very happy. Bard sighed. "She was a pretty girl, too bad she didn't understand this. "

Thran made a grimace "Today being overweight means that you are worth less as a human being, you may be regarded as weak, flawed, disgusting. It is horrible really!"

Bard nodded and Elisa did find the mailbox and opened it. The mails were sorted by date, the oldest ones first and she blinked. "Look here, this sounds promising"

Bard and Thran did lean forward and stared at the screen. "Hello there you gorgeous thing, where have you been all of my life?"

Bard cringed and Thran made a grimace. "Smooth, did she answer?"

Elisa nodded. "Yes, I think this may be the one, there are more than three weeks of chats and mails in here"

She scrolled down, very fast and her face got more and more intense. "Look here? He is playing on her insecurities like a master handles a violin, see?"

Bard did read it out loud. "You are beautiful, any man would be happy to be with you, can't you see you are precious?"

Thran grimaced, he did look disgusted. "She is being groomed, prepared. He is trying to make her love him, adore him. He wants to utterly destroy her"

The texts became increasingly intimate and Elisa pointed at the time registered by each mail and chat. "She was online with him almost twenty four seven over the last week, the language is that of lovers, very intimate"

Thran did read a little and he did look a bit red in the face. "Oh I see, for sure. Hmm, he has certainly gotten her hooked"

Bard had to swallow, the text was so sugary sweet it almost made him gag but to an insecure girl it had to be heavenly, a sign that somebody did care and find her attractive in spite of it all. Thran took a deep breath. "Go to the end."

Elisa did scroll down, there was just one entry and it had arrived precisely five minutes before Leonora did dive off the roof. It was a huge file and Thran did stop Elisa from opening it. "I don't think we all should see this, seriously. I fear that this content may be harmful in many ways"

Bard nodded. "Alright, you want to watch it alone?`"

Thran nodded. "Yes, I can deal with it, I don't think you can."

Bard felt conflicted but nodded. "You are right, I should probably stay away from this. Elisa?"

She cringed. "Yeah, me too. I have seen a lot of shit believe me but…no, I don't want to see this. She was a lovely girl, I want to think of her like that"

She got up and left the room and Bard did follow her. Thran sat down and braced himself, he had trained for such events but he did doubt that he was ready. Still he had to do it and his hand was shaking as he pressed the button and opened the mail.

A quarter of an hour later he did join Elisa and Bard outside of the room, he was grey in the face, crying and shaking all over and Bard did embrace him. "That bad?"

Thran gasped. "Oh God, I have watched that file three times, I cannot describe the evil of this person. In just three minutes he…he ruined everything she was Bard, her new found confidence, her feeling of worth, her every hope and dream. There was even porn in it, ghastly images of some terribly obese women with her face photoshopped onto them. He was explaining what he would do to her, in detail. There was even one image of a woman and a…miniature donkey! He called her a worthless fat whore and said that she was too disgusting to touch."

Bard had never seen Thran this affected before, this broken. "He knew exactly what triggers to push, what to say and show. She must have felt utterly crushed, it was the most cruel thing I have ever encountered"

Bard couldn't say anything but Elisa did stare at them, she was glaring. "Well, there is just one thing to do!"

Bard lifted his head. "What do you mean?"

Elisa did cross her arms over her chest. "First, check if the other two were on the same page and then turn the hunter into prey"

Thran did wipe his face and Bard embraced him, he hated to see his beloved so distraught. "You are speaking of creating a false profile aren't you?"

Elisa did nod and her eyes were dark. "Yes, Erestor is not only an excellent hacker, he can also create some very lifelike avatars. It shouldn't be any problem creating a person who would be irresistible to this creep"

Bard took a deep breath. "Alright, let's check the names of the two previous ones and then we take it from there."

Elisa did enter the main page again and started searching for names, there was a function there called "Found love" and it did show the profile image of those members who had found someone through the page. Bard cussed, both were there and had hooked up with different names but it had to be the same person. "He has more than one profile"

Thran did look tired. "He is shaping his profile according to the target, he is sly!"

Bard looked at Elisa. "Can he be tracked back to his own computer?"

Elisa made a grimace and shrugged. "I hardly think so, he is most likely using a laptop and entering the open wifi of some public building. He is smart"

Thran did lean his head onto Bard's shoulder and he took a deep breath. "We have to make a profile and fast. He may be looking for a new target already"

Bard did slide his fingers through the long blonde hair and he bent over and kissed Thran's forehead. Elisa did grin. "Sometimes you guys are just so sugary sweet!"

Bard grinned and then he did embrace Thran again. "The culprit, he doesn't rape the victims, there doesn't seem to be anything sexual in it at all?"

Thran straightened himself up. "Oh but there is, it is just twisted. He never meets them face to face, but yet he is intimate with them over the web and the videos of their last moments? I bet that is what does it for him."

Elisa did turn pale. "Oh God, do you really suggest that he is watching them die and …you know…polishing the door knob?"

Thran had an intense look in his eyes. "The culprit is male, probably between twenty and forty years of age, Caucasian and he is not very social. I would say that he probably lacks the ability to interact with others in a normal manner. He isn't stupid at all, I would say that he is above average intelligence and he is strategic and systematic."

Bard had to grin. "And there the profiler kicked inn"

Elisa did tilt her head. "But why does he do it? Why does he kill women like that?"

Thran did sigh and released his grip around Bard's waist. "There could be many reasons I bet, but I think he must have had a traumatic experience of some kind, which involved a woman like that"

Elisa cringed. "Oh , the search. I did start a search for deaths involving women who fits their description."

She ran over to the office computers and checked, the search was still moving along and she sighed. "There are just too many deaths to search through, this may take a while."

Bard nodded. "We are going to get something to eat, could you call Erestor and ask him to make a profile? "

Elisa did pull out her phone. "On it, I will call if the search engine finds something"

Bard did pull Thran after him and the blonde did still look a bit shaken, Bard wondered if he would be able to get through this. They headed for the café right over the street and got a huge sandwich each. Thran did eat but reluctantly and Bard knew the look in his eyes. He was angry, and he was never himself when he was in that mood. Bard did take his hand. "Relax, put it aside. We are doing what we can remember?"

Thran took a deep breath. "I know, it is just…I cannot even begin to describe how this makes me feel, that beast is targeting vulnerable people Bard, those who already struggle. It is…sick!"

Bard nodded. "Yes, and we will catch him, don't doubt that for a second. Eat now, the food is too good to go to waste"

Thran just sent him a pale grin and continued nibbling at his sandwich. Bard sighed and ordered a huge cup of black coffee. He needed that now, or rather, he needed a huge shot of whiskey but he was at work and Thor would throw a tantrum if anybody showed up at the office drunk. They finished the meal and then they returned to the office, Elisa was sitting by the desk still and the search was still running. She did yawn. "Erestor is gonna have the profile ready tomorrow morning."

Bard raised an eyebrow. "That fast?"

She grinned. "He is efficient and promised to put everything else aside since it is such a disgusting case"

Thran smiled warmly. "Bless him, what now?"

Bard shrugged. "We wait, if Judith haven't got anything special for us I guess we can return to the good old paperwork. There are reports to be made"

Thran moaned but he did smile a bit. "Great, paperwork, just what I need now"

Bard did squint for a second. "There is one thing which puzzles me though"

Thran did grin. "Just one? Then you are truly a lucky man"

Bard rolled his eyes. "Ha ha ha, very funny. How did he know she was going to jump to her death?"

Thran sighed. "The last thing written in the message he sent her asked her to jump off the roof and spare the world from her presence. When a person is that upset and broken it becomes almost like a command, they will do it for it will seem as the only way out"

Bard closed his eyes. "Goddamn bastard! I wish I could…."

Thran nodded. "Me too!"

Both of them sat down to work on the reports and Thor did drop by, telling that the technicians hadn't found anything there which indicated that somebody had visited Leonora. But they had found flowers and other gifts and the cards had been pre-printed and weren't traceable. The flowers had come from florists all over the city and there had even been a box of very exclusive chocolate delivered at her door once. The killer had really done his very best to make her trust him and love him. Thran was sure that if there ever were a psychopath this was it, a real monster.

They didn't mention the case at all when they returned home for the evening, it was the rule. Work was left behind when they left the office. The kids were busy, Tilda had taken up ballet and was showing off her new moves and Sigrid had promised to visit a friend. Bain was out fixing some fences with Legolas and Jean was cooking as always. She had some days off work and even though her days did consist of cooking she never got tired of it. Bard and Thran did take a long ride before the nigh fell and then they had a hot bath and when they did retire for the evening Thran was unusually clingy and needy. Bard knew he tried to drain himself of the darkness they had encountered and didn't mind at all, he liked it when his beloved was passionate and he did willingly participate in some rather hefty love making.

The next morning Jean sent the kids off to school and Thran and Bard had a quick breakfast. Bard knew he would be limping for much of the day, but he didn't mind it at all. Thran was in a good mood and that was what mattered the most. They got to the office on time which was a minor event in itself since traffic usually got gridlocked rather fast. The main roads leading into the city weren't made for modern traffic at all.

Elisa was already in place, she was grinning. "Ah, there you are, the brave knights, defenders of fallen maidens and defeaters of dragons"

Bard did roll his eyes and Thran did raise an eyebrow. She giggled. "Sorry, I spent last night watching a movie about King Arthur, a really old one, I haven't heard that much thou and thee and thus for a very long time"

Bard laughed. "Alright, so, anything new?"

Elisa turned her screen around. "Guys, say hi to Samantha Beck, she is a girl originally from Canada, she is studying French literature at the university, has a BMI of 32 and haven't dared to date anyone in years"

They stared at a picture of a girl who was very convincing. She was sweet but could have been gorgeous if she had lost weight and she did look shy. The gaze was vulnerable and she had a sort of forced smile. Elisa was rubbing her hands together. "Erestor gave her features from all the three previous victims, she ought to be the ideal target for that sick fucker"

Thran did cock his head. "Those photos are astonishing, it is really just a computer generated thing?"

Elisa nodded. "He can make images you couldn't separate from real ones. You would need a special program to reveal them as fake and I don't think Mr Nasty does suspect anything"

Bard took a deep breath. "Is the profile out there already?"

Elisa nodded. "It was activated one hour ago, now we just have to wait for the fish to take the bait"

Thran did grin and the grin was vicious. "Yes, hook line and sinker"

They had to return to the reports and as they were working on them there was a ping coming from Elisa's computer. She jumped up and ran to it with glee. "Ah, the search, it has come up with something, finally!"

Bard and Thran did also run over to the computer and Elisa did open the file. It did show a burned down house and it seemed as if it had exploded. It was an old case, twenty years old as a matter of fact and there were images of the one victim of the fire. A woman in her early twenties who did look almost identical to Leonora, Elisa did read through the file at lightning speed. "Ah this was in the neighbouring county, in some little town to the west. They say that the house got blown up due to a gas leak. The owner of the house did die in the blast"

She showed them an image, it was a body, badly charred and laying face down on a lawn. "She got ejected from the house, they said she flew through the air like some missile"

Bard had to stare, it was grotesque and Thran did nod. "No coincidence, fat hoes fly remember?"

Elisa did read on. "The lady was a local baby sitter, she did watch the neighbourhood kids and she was well known for being a bit promiscuous but she never did anything which made people stop trusting her. "

Thran frowned "What was her name?"

Elisa did make a grimace. "Gertrude, I mean, what the fuck? Who names their daughter Gertrude?!"

Thran had to grin. "Someone who is fond of Wagner? Jokes aside, she fits the profile, I bet the murderer had a connection to her"

Elisa nodded. "Look, there was only one witness to the explosion. A fifteen year old boy named Duke Wainslow. He was in shock and the police wasn't interrogating him at all, he had just been walking by when the house blew up. At least, that was what he said"

Thran frowned. "Does the file say anything else?"

Elisa shook her head. "No, it was deemed as a tragic accident and that was it."

Thran did look intense. "Do a search for this Duke please, I have a feeling here"

Elisa did punch in the name and started searching and before long the police archives did come up with a person by that name. They stared at a man with a very odd look, he had a narrow head with eyes which seemed to bulge a bit, a crooked nose and very large front teeth and Bard had to grin. "Place a pair of long ears on that one and you have a bunny"

Thran scoffed "Maybe, but he is perhaps our target."

Elisa did read out loud. "Arrested no less than ten times? The first time when he was sixteen for having strangled the neighbour's dog, then he has been in and out of jail for years, mostly for theft and harassment. There is also one case here of identity theft. "

Thran raised a hand. "Bingo, there we have it. He is the one, any idea of where he is now?"

Elisa did search but nothing came up. "There is nada, he could be anywhere. We have to trust the profile we set up."

Bard tilted his head a bit. "Know what, he did kill that woman, Gertrude. I am sure of it. But why?!"

Elisa did tap her finger at the screen. "Gertrude has a living relative, a sister. She lives in Branton, it is two hours from here. Her name is Hildegard Darling."

Thran burst out into laughter. "Ah didn't I say it, their parents did love Wagner."

Bard had to giggle. "So shall we visit this Valkyrie then? Ask about her sisters death?"

Thran did nod. "Yes, it ought to be interesting."

Bard shook his head and went to inform Thor and get the all clear and then they were on their way. Branton was a small town and easy to find but the address was something else and they drove around for a good forty minutes before they found the right street. The one doing the planning when this town was established had probably been playing around with letter crackers for the names were impossible to pronounce. Most had no more than one or two vowels. The street Hildegard Darling lived in was a nice one with neatly trimmed lawns and white fences, it was rather idyllic but Thran sort of grimaced. "These neighbourhoods are the worst, there are always secrets when things look this nice."

Bard just grinned and walked up to the door, he had his police badge ready and then they got the shock of the day. With a name like that they expected the woman to look like something out of a Wagner opera, large, blonde and impressive. She was probably the smallest woman they had seen, barely more than four feet two and she was so doll like she barely seemed real. Bard did present them and she frowned, she was very pretty and she appeared to be way younger than her true age. "You want to know more about my sister? Why?"

Bard did swallow. "Well, we have reason to suspect that somebody who knew her has started killing women who resemble her"

Hildegard did stare at them, then she swore, in broad Irish and it made Bard wince. "Goddamn fekkin gobshite, it is that Duke kid isn't it, bloody pervert!"

Thran did frown. "Do explain please?"

Hildegard did almost sneer. "She was babysitting that kid for some years and he had a crush on her, a serious one. Could have been cute if it wasn't for the fact that it wasn't. He loved to spy on her while she was in the bathroom and he would take out his pecker and play with it when she was around. He did even sneak into her bedroom once and she woke up to find him standing by her bed, masturbating."

Thran did look intrigued. "So he was attracted to her?"

Hildegard did nod, her eyes were dark. "He was possessive, she tried to explain that she wasn't interested but he didn't listen. She told me he would show up at the weirdest moments and try to talk her into sleeping with him. Once he did even try to rape her but she managed to fight him off and she said he never would have been able to go through with it, he didn't have a boner"

Thran let out a hiss, his eyes did reveal some sort of moment of enlightenment. Bard stared at him. "What?"

Thran did take a deep breath. "Duke did kill her, beyond any doubt. And he blew the house up to hide it. "

Hildegard did nod. "I have always suspected that but who would think that a tiny fifteen years old boy could kill an adult woman. My sister wasn't small you know"

Thran made a grimace. "Do not underestimate the power of desperation. Duke did try to rape her again, I am pretty sure of it. But he couldn't do it, he didn't manage to get an erection and that made him so mad and disappointed he killed her instead and then he had to hide the evidence."

Bard did look a bit shocked. "Are you saying that he is impotent?"

Thran nodded. "Yes, most certainly"

Hildegard made a grimace. "Listen, there is this old doctor here in town, he used to be the local paediatrician and I do know that Duke's mother did take him to see Dr Roberts a few times, she refused to say why"

Bard did grin. "Wonderful, where does he live?"

Hildegard did find a post it note and described the way and she did ensure them that the old doctor would help if they described the situation. Bard did promise to call her as soon as they caught the bastard and they drove off in a hurry. They had to reach the doctor's office before it did close for the day. Dr Roberts proved to be a very old man, in his eighties but he was still working since he was very healthy and he didn't feel his age at all. He did listen to them and then he did find some old files and started to go through them. "Ah, Duke! I knew that one was trouble from the moment he was born, there as just something odd about that kid!"

He did find the right file and put it on the table. "I do remember that his mom brought him here, I think he was ten at the time"

He put on some glasses and started to read. "Yes, I was right. He was ten, and he suffered from a very tight foreskin, it had become inflamed."

Bard winced, the very idea…. Thran did nod. "It is very painful, what did you do?"

Dr Roberts did made a grimace. "I prescribed antibiotics and a strict regime of cleanliness. I couldn't do anything until the infection was gone but the mother didn't listen to me, she was one of a kind that woman, head strong and very stubborn and worse even, she didn't really trust modern medicine at all"

Bard sort of shrank back into his seat. "Dear lord, don't tell me…."

Dr Roberts did sigh. "She did circumcise the lad, with a scissor. He did bleed so badly I was called to their home to cauterize the wound and it was the worst botched job I had ever seen. There was major damage."

Bard nodded. "That may explain his inability to…ah…perform"

Dr Roberts did put his glasses down. "Yes, I doubt that he would be able to maintain an erection for very long, there was so much scar tissue I think intercourse would be painful unless he had surgery to fix the problem"

Thran was a bit pale and so was Bard, it was easy to feel sorry for somebody who had suffered through such a horrible thing. Dr Roberts sent them a sad smile. "Duke was the sort of kid who tears the wings of flies or sets cats on fire. I am not surprised that he has become a criminal, that family were so inbred their family tree had only one branch!"

Thran had to grin and Bard did shake the old doctors hand. "Thank you for the help, it is greatly appreciated."

Dr Roberts did smile and for a moment the friendly old face got very hard. "Don't hesitate when it comes to this one, Duke is bad news. He is better off locked away with the keys thrown into Mt St Helens."

The two men did stare at each other when they returned to the car, Thran did look as if he had tasted something disgusting. "Well, at least we now know his trigger"

Bard started the cruiser. "What do you mean?"

Thran smiled, the smile became wider and wider and almost ugly. "What will drive him mad, make him lose his mind"

Bard frowned. "Ah, are you telling me that…"

Thran nodded vigorously. "Yes, the sweet girl he is about to seduce is going to expose him for what he is, if that doesn't make him act irrationally then nothing will"

Bard chuckled. "Yeah, that ought to sting, a lot!"

When they did return to the station Erestor was there with Elisa, the tall dark haired man was sitting by the desk typing and Elisa was beaming. "He answered, he took the bait. Now Erestor is trying to chat him up."

Bard did look at Erestor with suspicion. "Are you sure you can be convincing, you have to convince this creep that he is chatting and mailing with an obese girl in her twenties who is painfully shy and naïve"

Erestor did crack his knuckles. "Don't worry. I have programs which help me and I do have a sister, she knows how people talk these days and what's hot or not"

Elisa grinned from one ear to the other. "He uses the same pick up lines each time I think, it is as if he is using a sort of textbook"

Bard frowned. "Maybe he is, there are plenty of books about dating out there, with pickup lines galore. "

He stared at Thran. "How much time do we give him?"

Thran sat down. "Two weeks, by then he ought to be sure about his grip on her, he will be convinced that she is his completely"

Erestor chuckled. "Two weeks it is, by then she will be completely smitten by him, she will tell him everything about herself, even her address"

Thran did look a bit nervous. "Really? Is that smart?"

Erestor did pout. "Doh, if he is to come for her he has to know where she is right? We will be waiting, to create the worst surprise party ever"

Thran nodded. "Right, just don't revel too much right away, hold back, play shy, tease him"

Erestor did grin with the tip of his tongue between his teeth. "Oh you bet I can tease, I am the king of teasing. He will think that she is the perfect target"

Bard took a deep breath. "Right, you do have time for this Erestor?"

He nodded. "Sure, I live my life in front of the screen each day anyhow, why not live somebody else's life for once? I think I could have made a fine woman don't you too?"

Elisa did burst into a fit of laughter. "The very best Erestor, the very best."

Over the next days Erestor did chat with the culprit quite often, he did hold back and that probably made Duke even more set upon this one. Erestor did create new images he uploaded, he did share details about this person's personal life with the man on the other end of the wires and it often ended with Erestor howling with laughter. He did pull over Elisa once, to show something Duke had written. He did call himself Da-man online and he had written that he owned a huge cattle ranch and that he was breeding Arabian horses. Erestor had mentioned just coincidentally to love horses and Duke had swallowed that lie whole. He was indeed shaping his own profile to fit with his intended victim. The profile image he had used was of a man who did have a few pounds too many but he was still handsome and Erestor had managed to trace the picture back to an open picture database. Duke had just removed the watermark from the photo and presented it as himself.

Thran had found out that Duke had been released from prison just a month before the first murder, he had been in and out of jail almost constantly and for some reason he had discovered the web page and there he had probably found the means to fulfil his fantasies.

Bard and Thran were working on some other cases while Erestor was grooming their serial killer, they did pay close attention to the development and Elisa did keep them updated all the time. The things Erestor did say would sometimes make them writhe with laughter or wince and he had created this whole sad backstory and a childhood with bullying and eating disorders. After a week the chatting was going on every day and Erestor was very careful not to seem too eager, instead he did make it sound as if he had second thoughts and then Duke would use everything he had learned about the girl to keep her talking. It was truly devious. Thran did find an apartment which fitted the description Erestor gave, it was in a good neighbourhood and the police did own some apartments there which were reserved for retired police officers. They did arrange it so the apartment did look as if it was inhabited and the neighbours were warned too. They were more than happy to help and before long the apartment did look very cosy and inviting.

After two weeks it was clear that Duke was a firm believer in this woman and that he was ready to take it to the next level, he started talking about meeting her, about marriage and he sent gifts to the apartment every day. Erestor was told what gifts had arrived and thanked Duke profusely and the language became more and more romantic and intimate. Thran and Bard were preparing the final part of the operation now. Erestor had discovered that Duke indeed did move around with no fixed IP address and he was impossible to track but the constant movements and the fact that he wasn't registered on any address made them realize that he was living in his car. Now they had people spying all the time and a white medium sized van were seen in the neighbourhood a few times. He was probably trying to determine where to place the camera which was to capture her last minutes and Thran had hired a body guard he knew to pretend to be her. He would be dressed up in a fat suit and placed inside of the apartment, and from a distance it ought to be believable enough. At least "she" was seen and the house didn't look empty.

The day they were to drop the bomb so to speak was busy, they had placed their own people in all of the apartments, they had snipers on the roofs of the other buildings and a helicopter was on standby. Bard and Thran were at the apartment, they were waiting and Elisa and Erestor had to do the final part of the job. Thran had already prepared a file to send to Duke and it was nasty, it ought to send him into a frenzy right away.

Erestor was grinning like mad when he hit send and the file flew off like a guided missile, guaranteed to create havoc. Thran had written it very carefully, first of all, she did reject him for she had found somebody else, someone worthy of her. Second of all, she had seen through his lies, he was probably just a bum and a looser. And third and not least, she was sure he had a tiny excuse for a cock and that he couldn't fuck even if his life depended on it. It should do the trick.

It did. There was no answer, just one word. "Bitch!" and then silence, Erestor did clap his hands and Elisa did call Bard. "He is on his way, stand by"

Bard and Thran had hidden themselves inside of the apartment and the body guard was there too, with the fat suit and makeup and a wig, and he had put on this completely ridiculous piece of lingerie which did show that the voluptuous body was fake. He wore a bullet proof suit under it and was armed and Thran was rather convinced that the sight would make Duke lose it completely.

There was silence, some lights were on but not all and the body guard had placed himself in the sofa, apparently reading a book but he had a Glock hidden underneath it and Bard and Thran was standing in a closet just a few feet from the entrance. There were police officers everywhere in the building and they were ready if there were any problems. Half an hour went by, then they heard the sound of a speeding car and screeching wheels and a car door did slam hard. The snipers on the roof saw the guy clearly but they wouldn't shoot unless they had to, they just made sure that they had him targeted the whole time. The apartment had huge windows which covered the entire façade and the curtains were pulled back, it gave them a full view of the apartment and they wore night vision equipment in case the lights went out. This was one bastard who wasn't going to get away with his crimes.

The body guard was professional. A friend of Dwalin and he had seen combat many times, he was as calm as a cucumber but Bard was sweating. So much could go wrong, what if the madman was armed? They had no idea of what sort of weapons he could bring. There was a slight buzz in their earplugs and one of the men on the roof did whisper. "He is inside, carries an axe and what appears to be a crowbar"

Bard let out a sigh of relief, it was dangerous weapons but it wasn't firearms. There was a sudden crash and the door fell inwards, shaken off its hinges. The man who stormed into the apartment was red in the face and his eyes were bulging even worse than before, he was almost foaming at the mouth. Thran had prepared one last surprise for Duke, the walls of the apartment was covered with pictures of male genitalia, all prime specimens and then there was this huge picture of a very tiny one with the word Duke Limpcock written all over it. He stormed into the living room and stopped, staring at the walls with huge eyes and that was when the body guard did get up from the couch, flinging the hair back and purring. "Don't you like it honey? I am completely sure the picture is exaggerating its size but it was the smallest we could find"

"She" was wriggling her hips and pouting and even a blind man could see that this was a huge burly guy dressed as a girl. Duke screamed, a wild piercing wail of wrath and he lifted the crowbar and ran towards the bodyguard who very calmly lifted the Glock. "Ah-ah loser, drop that or I will drop you!"

The two officers did step out from the closet with guns drawn and the door was suddenly filled with an entire Swat team. Duke let out another roar and he spun around himself, the eyes did reveal sheer madness. Several red dots did appear on his chest and he did shriek once more and then he attacked the wall. He was tearing into the images, screaming insults to somebody who could only have been Gertrude, accusing her of making him impotent and the soldiers from the Swat team did take him down with ease. They just put cuffs on him and pulled a hood over his head and he was hissing and spitting like an angry cobra. Bard did holster his gun, he was glad he hadn't had to use it and Thran did sigh. "I don't think he will go to jail, he is just too deranged. They will lock him up in intensive care at the mental hospital and keep him there"

Bard frowned. "Are you sure?"

Thran nodded and patted his back. "Yes, I will make it so. He will never see the light of day again as a free man"

Bard shuddered. "And yet he managed to kill four people, innocent women"

Thran nodded. "We cannot save everybody Bard, but we can save a few and we did save many today. He would have continued killing women for years to come"

Bard nodded. "Yes, but I may never forget the manner in which he murdered them."

Thran nodded. "Yes, by using their insecurities and their fear of rejection against them. He was inhuman, but now he is caught and good riddance. We did a good job this time. "

Bard nodded and kissed his husband. "Yes, and now let's head back to HQ and tell Erestor and Elisa how this went down."

Erestor was laughing out loud, Elisa was almost in tears and the Swat team had filmed the whole séance and Thor stared at it and made a grimace. "Thran, that was wicked off you, no wonder why he snapped"

Thran just sent his boss and innocent grin. "Oh the pictures? The only road to recovery from mental problems is through self-acceptance and truth and I did fix that didn't I? He did see himself as what he truly was, a pathetic little pecker!"

Bard had to laugh and Thor did pat Thran over the back. "Remind me never to make you my enemy, this sort of mind games are for the experts alone"

Thran did grin back. "Indeed they are."

Duke was put away, nobody had expected anything else. He was so confused and so crazy he was kept sedated for most of the time, and when he wasn't he was yelling insults at every female who did show up near his cell. He was obviously blaming everyone for his inability to perform in bed and the psychologist at the site did give up on him. He was just not reacting to any sort of treatment. They did try one last attempt, with electrical shock therapy and it did seem to work for a few days but then he would relapse and scream out his hatred of dark haired voluptuous women.

That made the employees go ahead and buy pin up posters from the forties and fifties, women with real curves and they did hang them everywhere and then they would stand back and watch him go berserk, unable to reach the images. None there had any sympathy for this man and five months after he was submitted he did try to chase one of the other patients down a flight of stairs. She was a rather robust woman who was suffering from some severe delusions and he had probably forgotten that being large doesn't necessarily mean that you are weak.

When he did try to push her she grasped him, lifted him and plunged him down the open space next to the staircase and that was it. Three stories down into concrete with his head first was a quick end although a terribly messy one. The woman was escorted off and calmed down and nobody blamed her. The body was removed, the floors cleaned and Duke became just a file in an archive. And that was just the fate he deserved.


	10. The great pretender

Chapter 10: The great pretender

Justine Combs was the expert, a person so dedicated to her profession she knew all the tricks within the book and then some. She was proud of her skills and did rejoice in the fact that nobody she had met had been able to compare to her. She was the master of this game, there was nobody above her and she was way ahead of everybody else. They were riff raff, aiming way to low, not daring to really go out there and shine. She had taken it to the next level and as long as she was so far ahead of everybody else there was little risk of being exposed and caught.

She did take a look in the mirror, her make up was perfect, so was her outfit, nobody ought to question her identity. She blew a kiss at her reflection, made a well-rehearsed smile and sauntered out of the bathroom. Today she was the queen, number one, the winner.

She hadn't started off this bold, of course not. She had worked her way upwards from scratch, from a boring job in a firm which sold equipment for offices. Then she had discovered that there were opportunities out there, if you were bold enough and without scruples. Justine had never had those, she barely knew the meaning of the word. She knew one important person in this world and that was herself, period! At first she had gone for the easy tricks, picking out her targets carefully for she knew that this business was risky, but the benefits, oh the benefits. Her first "job" had earned her sixty grand in one go. She had entered a fast food restaurant and slipped on a piece of greased up paper, the result was a twisted knee or so the papers said and of course the restaurant did pay up right away. Rather that than going to court and risk losing more customers.

Justine had tried it all, pretending to have been hit by cars, pretending to have been mugged, pretending to have food allergies and getting allergic reactions….She knew the art of suing people to the letter, and just who to target and when to strike. She had of course had a few set backs, one guy had exploded when she tried to make it look as if he had backed into her in a parking lot, he had blown all his fuses and she had been worried that he would kill her but somebody had luckily seen them and came to her rescue. Another time she had gotten hurt for real, she had twisted her ankle in a stairway and it had forced her to stay at home for two weeks. Which was money lost and she couldn't bare the though.

Over the last two years she had earned more than five millions on scams, and she was shameless. If it could bring money she did it, making elderly people pay up all their life's savings for some made up cause was normal to her, after all, when they were that dumb they didn't deserve any better. Insurance fraud was if not easy doable if you knew just how to work the system to the max, and she knew the system and how it worked down to the T.

But she had upped her game a bit. Now she had entered the very lucrative world of identity theft and she had found that she loved it.

Not only did she steal people's private information like social security codes and card numbers but she did also try to live like them. It was a bit of a thrill really, a challenge to see if anybody could guess that she wasn't the one she tried to be. Nobody had reacted this far and she had found that this was like a bottomless well, ready to be harvested. Getting credit cards in the names of others was just the very start of this, bank accounts and expensive cars the next thing to try and she had even been selling properties which didn't even exist. She always made money, she had never done a job which didn't pay off for she was the best and her acting skills and instinct always made people fall for her lies.

She found the information she needed in people's garbage, on the web, by simple old fashioned spying. You could buy pretty advanced equipment online, for a small money too if you knew where to look and she saw this as her job, as her profession.

She walked by the lines of people waiting for their flights and picked up her Louis Vuitton baggage, making sure to uphold the illusion the whole time. She had picked a good target this time, a very famous actress who was well known for being a bit eccentric and odd. The actress was at the moment enjoying a long holiday in Hawaii with her twenty year younger boyfriend but that was a secret and thus Justine could take her place, for a few days. But that was all that she needed. She walked outside with her chin held high, the actress had the same body shape as her and with high heels and a wig the differences were there but not very obvious. She hailed a cab and waited for the cab driver to place her very expensive bags into the car for her. Then she did enter the car and gave the address to a famous hotel, the cabdriver appeared to be a bit star struck and his mouth did move a few times without him making even a sound.

She arrived at the hotel smiling, this was the critical moment for her. She, or rather the actress, had been there before several times and Justine had studied the everyday life of the actress for several months. By now she knew all about her, her habits, her preferences, how she did treat others, what she usually preferred to eat and practically every little quirk the woman had. She sauntered up to the man working the reception and smiled, a suave smile which was a trademark of the actress. "Hello there Gordon, now how are you today?"

The receptionist was making huge eyes for a few seconds, then he smiled back, a very professional smile. "I am very fine Ms Cloudfield, what may I do for you today?"

She leaned towards the counter. "Ah, I have had such bad luck today, I was supposed to fly to Paris but alas, the photoshoot got cancelled and now I am practically stranded here, with my crew already there. Be a darling and check if my suite is available? I know I haven't called ahead to check inn but you do know how it is don't you darling? When one thing gets in the way everything has to be rescheduled."

The receptionist did smile, he did look a wee bit nervous but did check the computer and now he did smile for real. "Ah, good news Ms Cloudfield, the suite is ready. Should I send your bags up right away?"

She nodded. "Of course darling, and call Mr Peters, I need some gowns and clothes and the rest of my stuff too, the rest of my wardrobe is unfortunately in Paris right now"

The receptionist did bow his head and she walked towards the elevators as if she truly did belong there. The actress did live at this hotel for almost four months a year, she had a storage connected to the hotel where they kept many of her belongings and she did grin to herself as she took the elevator up to the suite. There was an unending demand for things which had belonged to celebrities and everything this woman had worn could be sold for ridiculous amounts of money online, anonymously of course.

She entered the suite and waved her hand at the servant who already was standing there awaiting orders, it was a new one, thank goodness for that. She sat down elegantly and cocked her head. "Bill is it? Be a dear and get me some champagne, you know the type I prefer?"

The servant nodded and returned with a glass, she did take a small sip of it, and she did have acting skills for this did taste like cat piss the way she saw it but she grinned and took another sip. "Perfect, thank you dear"

The servant bowed deeply. "Was that all Ma'am?"

She nodded. "Yes, I will call if I need some assistance. Now I want to rest, jet lag is such a drag"

The servant sent her a very professional smile and Justine put down the glass and made a grimace the moment he left the room. She had the suite and access to Ms Cloudfield's belongings for about two days before anybody would get suspicious, that was plenty of time to take advantage of this opportunity. She called down and ordered dinner, some ridiculously expensive dish made from an endangered fish which had to be imported from Korea and then she sat down to watch some TV. Mr Peters did arrive and since he had met Ms Cloudfield several times she hid in the bathroom and pretended to be having a shower. She just yelled through the door, ordering him to leave the clothes and everything and have some champagne before he left.

That was exactly what Ms Cloudfield would do, and when Justine did exit the bathroom there were several long rows of clothes hanging from portable clothes racks. Some boxes of jewellery. Shoes, underwear, all sorts of accessories. Justine grinned, only a pair of shoes could bring her at least twenty grand, and a pair of nickers? Ah sweet lord, the perverts would be drooling over them. She was standing in the middle of a fortune.

She opened her smart phone and made a list, only the really expensive stuff, things which had been seen, worn by Ms Cloudfield at least once. This would be sweet. She had her plans ready. She had called ahead and the next morning several suitcases would arrive, apparently from the airport, bearing Ms Cloudfield's name. They were seemingly full of stuff but that was just cheap knock offs. She would replace it all with the real things and then she would leave, bye bye, adios, hasta la vista daaarlings!

She had flown in from another of the large airports, incognito of course and used a fake name the actress often made use off, the airports knew who it was and with the disguise it had been easy enough to fool them. One swift flight on first class, arriving in the middle of the day when the traffic was at its worst and it was on. She had to congratulate herself, it was sheer luck that she was so similar to the actress and knew how to use both make up and clothes to become even more similar. The eye colour was wrong but she had contacts and a dentist had put some veneers on her front teeth to make them more straight and white. If you didn't know the actress personally it was not very likely that you would be able to discover that this was an impostor.

Justine did enjoy a peaceful evening within the suite with Ms Cloudfield's favourite TV show which fortunately happened to be her favourite too and when she went to bed that evening she knew that this was the smartest move she had ever made. She would increase her wealth tenfold and nobody would be able to figure out what had happened. The hotel would most likely try to hush it all down and the actress would probably be on TV telling how violated she felt but it would only add to her fame. Justine was in fact doing her a favour. She fell asleep in the certainty of her own cleverness and didn't even for a second doubt herself and her questionable morale.

Bard was groaning, he felt as if his heart was about to pop out of his chest and sweat was pouring down his back, it felt like he had been caught outside in some torrential rain. "Three more Mr Bowman, come on, you can do it!"

Bard felt an intense urge to scream back and ask the personal coach to go fuck himself with a raw iron but didn't. Thran was just some feet away, lifting weights and Bard didn't want to lose his temper in front of his husband. "Ghaaa!"

He was shivering, the human body wasn't made for this sort of punishment and he was dead sure that his kneecaps would pop loose like hubcaps there and then. Why had he agreed upon this torture? Thran did turn his head, he was sweating too but grinning, for some bizarre reason his beloved did actually enjoy pushing himself. "Think about the task ahead, just that, clear your mind"

Bard growled. In just one week it was time for the physical check up all officers had to go through once a year, it did include both a visit at the doctors and some exercises which had to be done with a minimum of errors. If you failed you risked being sent out on foot patrol, the police corps had decided that it was time to get rid of the age old image of police men as donut chewing fast food loving slackers and thus this, each officer had been assigned a personal trainer who made a training program designed for each person's level of fitness.

Apparently Bard was regarded as a couch potato for this was worse than the training you had to go through to become a Navy seal, he was dead sure of it. Thran snickered. "You should have seen yourself, a tomato wouldn't look that red ever"

Bard pushed back against the goddamn torture device with all his might, the weights did rise, about half an inch. The coach was jumping up and down. "Come on, use your legs man, tighten you core muscles and push!"

Bard rolled his eyes, he hadn't heard that many orders for pushing and that many moans and groans since he visited a maternity ward. This was just silly, no amount of training could fix his lack of "explosive strength" and "questionable endurance" in just a week. Besides, Thran never complained about neither of those so why did he really care? The entire training room was filled with sweating men and the smell in there could have made an ox faint. Thran finished his round and sat up, the long blonde hair was braided and tied back and he grinned, eyes shining. "You really feel alive when you have pushed yourself this hard"

Bard groaned like a cow in labour" Alive?! Damn you, I feel like the mortuary is my next destination"

Thran laughed and got up, stretched out and Bard forgot how to breathe for a moment, damn, he did it on purpose or else you could call Bard a donkey. The sight was mouth watering and Bard started making plans for the evening. The kids were visiting Jean's cousin by the coast and they had the house all to themselves. It would be…hot! Bard was sure of that, hot and sticky and….

Thor came inn through the entrance door, waving his hand. "Bowman, Oropherson, my office in five!"

Thran sighed. "That was the end of the fun for this time, let's hit the showers shall we? I doubt that Thor want's to wait any longer, it looked as if he meant business"

Bard closed his eyes in silent thanks to whatever God it was that had looked down upon him in mercy and decided to intervene. The torture was over, yes!

The shower had to be quick and it was and when the two of them showed up at the office they were at least clean if not dry. Thor did look intense. "Guys, we have a case, and it is….gruesome"

Thran did tense up. "Gruesome?"

Thor did nod. "Yes, I have hardly ever seen anything like this"

Bard felt that the joy did exit him, now he had to think like a cop again, darn it!

"Murder?"

Thor nodded "Yes, a celebrity. Ms Cloudfield"

Thran did gasp. "Are you kidding me?! She has been nominated for the Oscars three times! And is very secretive"

Thor leaned his chin onto his hands. "She was found murdered this very morning, in a hotel room, her favourite suite at the Danleigh hotel"

Thran did blink. "A suite? That hotel is expensive as fuck!"

Thor just shrugged. "She is loaded, has more money than the bank, her last movie was a block buster and she earned more money on it than any actress has before for one movie. "

Bard tried to think. "So we are going to the Danleigh?"

Thor nodded. "Yes, you are going, Judith is already there"

Bard sighed and Thran shrugged. "Come on, we better hurry, we have a corpse waiting for us"

Bard just couldn't get over the fact that Thor had called the scene gruesome, it did take quite a lot to get that sort of statement out of him. He did rarely use such strong expressions at all. Thran did drive and the hotel wasn't that far away from the police station, they were there in just a few minutes and they saw the huge group of police cars and other vehicles which were assembled and Bard made a grimace. If this truly was a dead celebrity he knew that the journalists would descend upon the case like a WW2 bomb raid.

They entered the foyer and was greeted by a very visibly shaken hotel manager, he was close to tears and his face ashen white. Thran became all professional. Taking the man by the hand, talking in a low and very compassionate tone and the manager did swallow and managed to speak coherently. He did lead them towards the elevators and they did take it up to the suite where a bunch of other police men were hard at work securing the scene. Judith had already arrived as she usually did and she did stand in the door, waiting for the first CSI technicians to declare the room as safe.

Bard did see that one of the young technicians ran out the door, looking greener than a meadow in summer, he aimed for the hallway bathroom and judging by the sounds he didn't reach it in time. Bard did brace himself, this could be really bad then.

They saw that the suite was very exclusive, the furniture very expensive, the view wonderful and the luxuries there top notch, no doubt that Ms Cloudfield had money. The manager was sobbing. "She arrived yesterday, unexpected. She had been heading for a photo shoot in Paris but it got cancelled and she decided to stay here until further notice"

Bard just nodded, celebrities were infamous for doing things their very own way. Thran did take a deep breath, then they entered the bedroom and Bard let out a yip, he had seen horror before, lots and lots of it, including the case which brought the two of them together but this…Judith let out a squeal behind them and covered her mouth with one hand, eyes huge and filled with shock. "Oh sweet Jesus!"

Bard knew why the CSI technician had bolted, the smell alone… It did smell like a slaughterhouse, raw offal and blood, mixed with perfume and alcohol. The technician who had been first at the scene stood there with his camera, he had already sent photos to Thor and he was making sure to capture the scene from every possible angle. He did tilt his head and there was something about his expression which made Bard turn to him. "Is anything wrong?"

The technician did shrug, his face contorted. "No, or yes, I am not sure"

Thran frowned. "Do explain?"

The man lifted his camera, it was an expensive digital one and he pointed at the lights in the ceiling. "I am a photographer, it is what I do for a living. If you are to get good pictures you need to make sure that the light and everything is just perfect right? And this…the light is adjusted so it is absolutely the best possible for a photo shoot"

Bard had to look at the scene again, he swallowed, hard. Thran was pale and Judith was already putting on gloves and a suit, she was cussing to herself. "Getting it all with us will be hard!"

The corpse of what had been Ms Cloudfield was arranged, no other word could describe it. It was an artistic message there but an grotesque one, one which was completely inhuman. Bard had never seen anything worse than this. The dead body was placed on the bed laying across it. The head was twisted into a sort of very unnatural position and the eyes were open, staring with an expression of utter horror. The torso was arranged with its arms straight out to the sides, the legs were open and spread as far as possible, in fact they were way too far apart and Bard wondered if the pelvis had been fractured for that to happen.

The dead woman was completely exposed but the real horror was her mid section, her abdomen had been cut open and all her entrails were pulled out and arranged over the head board of the bed and the huge wrought iron decoration hanging above it. Some of the organs were placed neatly beside the body and Judith was staring at the whole mess, her lips were moving all the time as if she was praying. The woman's breasts had been removed, only bloody wounds did remain and they were apparently missing.

Thran stared at the horrible sight, he was breathing rather fast. "This one is completely and utterly mad, and he is enjoying it"

Bard just whispered. "No shit, we are talking Hannibal Lecter grade madness here aren't we?"

Thran shook his head. "No, worse, way worse!"

The photographer sort of groaned. "Whoever did this, pictures were taken, many! Perhaps even film. There are some small marks on the carpet which indicates the use of a tripod, could be a camera with both movie and photo recording"

Thran nodded. "The perpetrator wanted to document what he was doing, it gets him off. He is in control, and he wants to relive the scene again."

Bard felt sick to the core and he had to leave the room. The manager was outside and Bard tried to think clearly. "Alright, when was she last seen?"

The manager lifted a small hand held computer. "At eight last night, she called room service for a cup of warm cocoa with cinnamon and rum. She always does that"

Bard walked over to the living room, it was undisturbed and he saw that there were several movable clothes racks there. The managed tried to smile. "She had sent her luggage ahead of her, needed some things and she does rent a storage room here at the hotel, in the basement. She was one of our regular customers, and we were all very fond of her"

Bard nodded. "So she wasn't some diva?"

The manager did grin again, a real smile this time. "Oh she was a diva but also a lady, to the very core. Always polite and always very nice to everybody, even the servants. Of course she had her odd quirks but we loved her, not only because of her money if that is what you think"

Bard made a note of it. "The suite is the only one on this floor?"

The managed nodded. "Yes, and it is sound proofed too, we do take care of the privacy of our guests!"

Bard sighed, she could have screamed for help and nobody would have heard her, poor soul!

Thran did walk around the room and he did stop, stared at a coffee table by the window. "She did order a cup of cocoa? "

The managed nodded. "Yes, it was a habit of hers?!"

Thran pointed at a cup standing on the table. "It is here still, full. She didn't drink it!"

The manager frowned. "That is odd, she loved that cocoa so much"

The elevator doors did open and one of the receptionists did enter the hallway, he did wave his hand at the manager. "Ah Sir, her luggage, it has arrived from the airport, what are we to do with it?"

The manager stared at Bard with an expression of helplessness on his face, not knowing what to do. Bard smiled, a stiff smile. "If you have some spare room place it there, under lock and key. The technicians will probably like to take a look at it and the contents are the property of whoever is to inherit her stuff"

The managed let out a thin wail. "Oh gods, this is horrible, if this gets out we are screwed, nobody would want to come here now!"

Thran did shake his head. "On the contrary Mr, people flock to the places where a celebrity has died, you will be able to double the price of this suite now, or even triple it and still people will come"

The manager did look aghast! "God! no! This suite….It will be demolished, completely, we will turn it into ordinary regular rooms. I cannot stand the idea of having it cleaned and put back into service"

Bard realized that the manager in fact was a very decent person, not only interested in making a profit. They stood there when there was a yell heard from the bedroom and Bard and Thran turned and ran back inside of it, Judith was standing there holding a lump of bloody tissue and Bard had problems identifying it until Thran made a sort of groan" It is one of her breasts, where…?"

Judith was ashen grey and her hands were shivering. "It was…it was placed within her….vagina"

Bard felt dizzy. "Jeeez, a pervert?"

Thran nodded. "The very worst kind of pervert. The murdering kind"

Judith put the tissue into a evidence box and closed the lid, she was dark eyed and shaking all over. "This woman was tortured before she died, probably for hours. The injuries I have found…God, if you don't catch this bastard I am gonna fry you both, you hear?"

Judith didn't usually make such statements and Bard nodded. "Duly noted."

Judith did walk over to the other side of the bed and her face was stern, cold, expressionless. "She has been raped, several times I bet, both vaginal and anal rape, also with some sort of object. A very large one. She is torn up on the inside, I am almost one hundred percent sure that the cause of death is blood loss and shock."

Thran moaned and Bard had to look at the view again, just to clear his mind. This person had suffered for a long time, it was just too awful to think about. "Who does something like this to a living human being?"

Judith's voice was hoarse and Thran cleared his voice before he answered. "A monster, someone who isn't human anymore, not in the sense we normally define humanity. This is a person who is obsessed with something about this scene, and her."

He snapped his fingers, turned to one of the police officers. "Do me a favour, check if there are any scenes like this in any of her movies, her on her back across a bed, spread out like a sacrifice?"

The officer nodded and ran off, thankful that was allowed to leave the room. He did almost collide with one of the hotel staff who was exiting the elevator, looking very uncertain. "Ah excuse me? Uh, there is something…"

Bard nodded. "Yes? Go on?"

The young man did look down, obviously embarrassed. "We were placing the suitcases in one of our storage rooms in the basement and…well…the luggage handler did slip and one of the suitcases did open up. And it…the contents were just pieces of cloth, no real clothes at all, just cheap cotton"

Bard frowned and the man was red in the face. "Uh, we did open one of the other suitcases, just to make sure that it wasn't some mistake and …that too was filled with rags"

Bard was about to answer when Judith let out a sort of squeal yet again and Bard rolled his eyes, hard. What sort of horror had she now uncovered?

The coroner did enter the hallway, her eyes huge. "Guys, we are in trouble, we are in such deep shit that I cannot even begin to describe it!"

She turned to the manager. "Please, tell me that the police is the only ones who knows about this yet? If not…"

The manager did look very scared. "Ah, we haven't notified anybody except the police no, our employees are very well trained too, nobody will speak to anyone, our discretion is a guarantee, no matter what happens, what is wrong?"

Judith was breathing hard. "Guys, the woman in there, she isn't Ms Cloudfield!"

The manager gaped. "WHAT?!"

Bard gaped too. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

Judith help up a small glass tube, inside of it was two small pieces of plastic, coloured brown. "Ms Cloudfield has brown eyes, this woman was wearing contacts, her eyes are blue! And she is about an inch and a half shorter than Ms Cloudfield too. And about fifteen years younger too I would recon "

The hotel manager was just opening and closing his mouth, he did look like a fish. "That…that is…how is it possible…"

Judith sighed. "Don't ask me how, but the real Ms Cloudfield is alive somewhere and must be found asap, and nobody must learn of this, if the murderer find out he murdered the wrong woman he'll got after the real Ms Cloudfield again, that is a guarantee"

Thran sprang into action. "Right, I know who her agent is, he has to know where she is at the moment. But Bard, this has to be handled in a different manner than a usual case. The media has to find out"

Bard frowned. "Uh? Why? That will… "

Thran stared at him. "This murderer wants recognition, he wants fame, he wants to bask in his triumph. If we deny him that he will try again, and again…he is insatiable Bard, we must give him what he wants, to keep him at bay until we can identify him"

Bard nodded. "Alright but how?"

Thran turned to the hotel manager. "Do you have any employees speaking a foreign language? With a heavy accent?"

The manager did nod. "Ah yes? We have a lady here who is Polish, her accent is very broad?"

Thran nodded. "Wait until we have cleared out the suite and removed the body, then get your employee to call the largest news papers, anonymously from one of your phone booths. Tell her to just claim that Ms Cloudfield has been murdered here in your hotel this morning"

The manager was sweating. "Dear lord, they will gather here like vultures but alright, if it is to protect the real Ms Cloudfield"

Judith bowed her head. "We would be very grateful yes, this woman was an impostor and if I am not wrong a very good one. She was probably going to replace the rags in her luggage with Ms Cloudfield's things and then sell them online."

The manager did look a bit nauseous. "Gods, that is horrible, and yet, I cannot help but feel sorry for her, poor woman, whoever she was. Nobody deserve to suffer thus"

Thran grasped his cell phone, his face was stern. "Exactly. Judith, do you think you can identify her?"

Judith nodded. "Yes, if she is a con artist I bet she has been arrested at some point, her finger prints could be in the data base"

Thran was searching the web. "Call me when you find her true identity? She may have family somewhere who needs to be informed of this. I am gonna call Ms Cloudfield's agent here and now. Before the shit hits the fan"

Thran left the hallway to have some peace and quiet and Bard helped the officers remove things which could be crucial to the investigation. Judith and her employees were removing the body and she shrugged and sent Bard a sad grin. "Her left boob is still missing, I bet the perp did take it with him"

Bard nodded. "Yeah, as a sick souvenir I bet"

Judith pulled off her gloves and put on a new pair. "I am glad I am a coroner, working with dead corpses. A celebrity has no real life anymore, these days there are cameras everywhere, and I bet that there are paparazzies stalking the poor woman every day."

Bard nodded. "Yeah, not being able to leave the door without looking perfect has to be a burden, I would have gone mad"

Then a though hit him, hard. "Damn it, the perp, he has to have seen her arrive at the hotel!"

He almost shook the hotel manager like a ragdoll. "Fast, how often does Ms Cloudfield stay here?"

The manager blinked, a bit shocked by the passionate outburst. "Ah at least twice each month? Sometimes even more"

Bard tried to control himself. "Who else uses the suite?"

The manager tried to smile. "Few, very few. It is expensive and we try to keep it just for her. We have had two or three other guests this year. A Saudi Arabian princess and then a CEO from a Chinese Oil company"

Bard was thinking fast. "You said that you do prioritize the privacy of your guests, does the suite come with anti-spying equipment?"

The manager nodded. "Of course? That is something everybody does expect these days. We have a closed Wi fi system which has to be logged into and it is safer than fort Knox. There are scrambling devises placed within the suite, nobody can leave things like microphones or hidden cameras without us finding them right away"

Bard smiled. "Good, the perp was outside then, and he saw that she was inside of the suite and then he decided to strike"

Judith stared out of the window. "Ah, how could he see that…"

Bard pointed. "See that building? He was on the roof, you can call me a piece of butter if I am wrong. He has kept the hotel under watch for weeks I bet, waiting for the right moment to strike"

The manager blinked again. "That is also a hotel, a nice one but not as nice as ours of course, and it is also a casino"

Judith nodded. "And it houses conferences too, Bard, you are onto something"

The manager did look uncomfortable. "But…how did the…perp…get up here unseen? We have surveillance camera's everywhere outside of the suites and we haven't seen anything at all."

Judith made a grimace. "Yeah, he has brought some equipment too, I bet that he had at least one camera and maybe even some movable lights. And rope, perhaps handcuffs, she has some abrasions which indicate that she was forced to wear some sort of garment, a very tight one, probably rubber. "

Bard closed his eyes. "He really made every sick fantasy come to life now didn't he?"

Judith nodded. "Yes, and he did use a condom so there is no DNA unless she managed to scratch him. He must have taken the used rubber with him"

Bard sighed. "He had it all planned, to the smallest detail. He must feel like the master of the world now. "

Judith looked down. "And if the truth gets out? Oh he will explode"

Thran did return to the room, holding his phone. "Guys, I have talked to her agent. Ms Cloudfield is on Hawaii, with her new boyfriend. She will stay there until further notice and keep her head low so to speak. But the agent did tell me something very interesting"

Bard cocked his head. "Oh? What?"

Thran sat down. "She had her fair share of stalkers, stars usually does, but lately she has gotten some letters which were very disturbing"

He did open the phone and showed them a pile of papers, all written with the same bold letters and the same message. "It should have been mine. Bitch!"

Under the written words was an image, from a movie and Bard recognized it. It was from the most popular of Ms Cloudfield's movies, about a rich heiress who against the advice of her posh family marries a man from a lesser family only to discover that he is doing it only for her money. She almost nailed an Oscar with that one. The image showed Ms Cloudfield laying across a bed with her body stretched out and she held a razor in one hand and appeared to have slit her own throat.

The police officer they had asked to check the movies did return and held an image in his hand. "It is this scene, from the movie "The final kiss" It is five years old"

Bard saw that the police man had found that same image as they had. "We already know, thanks for the effort. "

The police man did look a bit disappointed but nodded and left and Bard grasped Thran by the shoulder. "The perp has been watching this suite, from afar. Probably the hotel to the west of here"

Thran did turn around. "It is more than two miles from here?"

Bard nodded. "Yes, but I bet he had a telescope."

Thran turned to Judith. "Alright, find out who Ms Doe here was and we go to check that other hotel. Maybe somebody there has seen anything"

Judith just nodded and the two did enter the elevator and pushed the button for the foyer. Thran was thinking very hard. "He has entered this room sometime last night, before midnight I bet"

Bard frowned. "Why do you think so?"

Thran made a grimace. "This perp is a perfectionist, I bet he sees himself as someone who is above the rest of humanity, and he has made good preparations, he would hate to be disturbed by anything."

Bard still didn't understand. "And?"

Thran made a gesture out towards the open space in front of the hotel. "He wanted to take photos right? The windows were not covered and at midnight the hotel does have a fireworks show each night. It is quite spectacular and noisy too, a perfect cover really."

Bard bit his lower lip. "He entered before the show started and attacked as it began?"

Thran nodded. "Yes, to be absolutely sure that she didn't detect him until it was too late. The light from the show must have been almost blinding at that floor, and the windows are huge and turned in the direction of the plaza"

Bard sighed. "There was nothing on the surveillance videos?"

Thran nodded. "Yes, so he must have entered some other way, but how? And from where?"

Bard tried to think. "Ah, could there be secret entrances to the suite?"

Thran raised an eyebrow. "And the manager doesn't know of them? I doubt it"

Bard just shrugged. "It was just an idea"

They entered the foyer and left the hotel, Thran was driving and he was quiet. Bard knew him well now, he was thinking, and he was scared and fascinated. It was very rare to encounter a truly monstrous human being and this could easily be one of those. The other hotel wasn't that luxurious but it was nice still and the clerk at the desk did smile at them as they entered. She was a small and rather trim woman with a name sign telling everybody that her name was Sindy and Thran did put on his most charming smile. She saw their police badges and raised an eyebrow but she didn't look alarmed at all. Thran did introduce himself and Bard and the woman gave them her full attention. "We have a question for the staff here, have anybody seen a person carrying something which can be a telescope?"

Sindy frowned. "A telescope? Oh sweet lord, we have had a conference here for the last two weeks, amateur astronomers! It would be more odd to see someone without a telescope than one with one"

Bard groaned. "Alright, how about your roof? Does anybody have access to it?"

The clerk shrugged. "Everybody? We have a nice little garden up there, it is open at all hours?"

Thran turned to Bard. "He isn't using the roof Bard, he would be discovered. But he is most likely renting a room here, on one of the top floors"

He turned back to Sindy. "Listen, we are looking for a man who may have murdered somebody, and he must have been staying here rather often, and he has probably been spying on the surrounding buildings"

Sindy made a sort of pout. "I am not really allowed to give this sort of information to anybody but since you are the police, I can check it out?"

Bard nodded. "You would be an angel if you do, we are very grateful"

She went over to her computer and started typing. They had to wait for a while but she did seem like a person who likes to be thorough. "Well, nobody has stayed in the same room over time but there is a few guests here who has returned quite often over the last months and they have stayed in different rooms each time?"

Thran smiled. "That is great, any on the upper floors?"

She was typing again. "Three people, you are sure that this information won't be shared? It is my job on the line here"

Bard did look sincere. "I give you my word!"

She pressed a button and a printer started to whine and shriek. A piece of paper left it and was handed over and Thran did take it and stared at the three names on it. He did frown. "Two men and a woman, I think we can ignore the woman for now. Women doesn't do such things, and besides, the victim was raped"

Sindy frowned. "It was a rapist? Oh Gods, is the person dangerous?"

Thran sent her a calming smile. "Yes, but not for the common person, this is a person with a very unhealthy obsession with a certain somebody"

Sindy let out a small sigh of relief. "Good, I don't wanna have the night watch if there are crazy bastards running around here"

Thran was about to say good bye when one of the elevators opened and a man wearing overalls and a sort of harness did enter the foyer. He smiled at Sindy and ignored the two men and Thran stared at him with huge eyes. "Oh God"

Bard frowned. "What is it?"

Thran did grasp his phone. "I know how the bastard entered the suite!"

He called a number and when it answered at the other end he did speak very fast. "Fred? It is Thran, do me a favour, if you still are at the suite check the bathroom window, is it possible to open it, from the outside? Is it loose somehow?"

There was silence and Bard heard the sound of feet and a door was being opened. Then they heard a man grunt and moan and a creaking sound, it was rather loud. "Yes, there are a set of extra attachments on the window, these bathroom windows aren't really made to be opened? And there is a sort of handle here too"

They heard the sound of wind passing by and Thran sighed. "Thank you Fred, dust the handle but I bet the perp used gloves. We know how he entered now"

Thran turned to Bard. "He used the windowcleaner's elevator. It is noisy but has room for much equipment and the fireworks would camouflage the sound of it moving, and also the window being opened."

Bard closed his eyes. "And the shape of the façade makes it impossible to see it from the livingroom. Clever bastard"

Thran made a new call. "It is Thran, check the roof, somebody has been up there and tinkered with the window cleaner's elevator. Yes, it was the perp. Check it thoroughly, each bolt and nut!"

Bard swallowed hard. "So, who are the suspects?"

Thran held out the list and Bard did read it, very fast. "Mr Jaamal Hasreet? Of Cairo Egypt. He is a businessman dealing with Egyptian cotton sheets. I doubt this is the one"

Thran nodded. "So do I, I cannot imagine that a person from a foreign country has the opportunity to stalk a celebrity thus"

Bard did read the next name. "Mr Bartholomew Downs, retired school teacher, in town to help the local museum with an exhibition about the natives?"

Thran did type very fast on his smart phone. "Yes, I found the museums home page, Mr Downs have helped them before and it says here that he is eighty four and almost deaf."

Bard sighed. "Hardly our guy then, could it be an employee?"

Thran shrugged. "Not very likely! Who has time to spy while on the job? Somebody would notice for sure. No, this is odd. "

Bard did read the last name. "Ms Beatrix Lindenwald, occupation dancer?"

Thran nodded. "Women doesn't kill like that, she is in the clear."

Bard sighed, he felt a bit down, how were they to catch this one? "So what now?"

Thran opened the car door and entered. "I haven't got a clue, let us return to the station, I bet Thor want's an update"

They drove back in silence and Bard wished that he still was sweating it out under the not so tender care of that goddamn trainer. It would have been easier to deal with. Thor listened to everything they had to say and the officers left at the scene did call inn too, no fingerprints and the elevator was in pristine shape. Not even a single fiber left. The person had to have entered the rooftop during the day when the doors had been opened so the window cleaners could do their job and probably hid somewhere, presumably behind on of the AC units. The only thing they did find was some gravel which had been disturbed, but there were no footprints at all. The perp had probably taken one of the elevators down and replaced the original window with a new one when the suite was empty, there was always some sort of maintaining work being done so nobody would react to a person in an overall carrying equipment.

Bard and Thran did go to eat and then they wrote a quick report of what they had seen. Some officers would check the alibi of both the men on Sindy's list but it was very obvious that neither of them could be regarded as a suspect. Thran just sat there thinking when Judith did call them and they went down to the morgue right away. She was done with the initial examination of the remains and she was cleaning the bench as they entered. She made a grimace. "I have seen a lot, but this…I cannot even begin to comprehend such sadism. It is completely inhuman!"

Thran took a deep breath. "Talk us through it"

Judith seemed to brace herself. "Right, where do I start? Ah, let us start at the top shall we?"

She grabbed a piece of paper. "She wore a wig, a very good one for it didn't come off even if it must have been pulled at, hard. Her scalp had some bruises, she was a natural blonde by the way. She had veneers and contacts as you already know."

She did look uncomfortable. "Ah, the boobs were cut off her, and here the perp has made a mistake"

Thran suddenly looked like a hunting dog on a fresh scent track. "Oh?!"

She nodded. "Ms Cloudfield has implants. It isn't widely known though, I called her plastic surgeon to get the information. So the perp doesn't know absolutely everything about Ms Cloudfield"

Thran did almost sneer. "He is thorough, that is odd, he should have known if he is a real stalker. When did Ms Cloudfield have the implants done?"

Judith shrugged. "Ten years ago, before the career really took off"

Thran snapped his finger. "The perp haven't bothered with Ms Cloudfield's past then. He has become obsessed rather recently, perhaps when her movies became popular"

Judith nodded. "Yes, Ms Cloudfield was a nobody for many years, not very famous at all. It was the movie Hidden dancer which made her a star, over night"

Bard frowned. "I don't think I have heard of it?"

Thran smiled. "Really? It was a very good movie, a tear jerker I have heard"

Judith tilted her head. "I can vouch for that yes, I saw it and cried for hours afterwards"

She lifted the sheet again. "The rape damage you already know off, she had broken ribs, torn muscles and tendons, bruises and cuts and then the disembowelment of course. Her toe nails were torn out, one by one, so was her finger nails and I do also believe that the perp used a sort of small metal object to make burn marks on her. It was very round and only about five mm in diameter."

Thran closed his eyes. "Show me"

Judith did pull the sheet aside, and let Thran see a hand, it was grotesque but there was a row of marks around the wrist, like a beaded bracelet only that the beads were burn marks. Thran stared at them. "This is rage, this is punishment, deliberately done. Not only to torment but to settle a score of some sorts. It does speak of an intense hatred, on a personal level. I think I know what the perp used!"

Judith stared at him, with an open mouth. "You do?"

Thran did reach into his pocket and pulled out a very expensive pen he always carried with him. "The hotel has some very nice pens in the suites, made from steel. The perp heated a pen with a lighter and used it, I think I sense some sort of symbolism here."

Judith was pale. "A screenplay?"

Thran nodded. "Or a role which got snatched from somebody? Or simply an obsession with a role character. I have seen that before"

Bard swallowed. "Really?"

Thran sighed. "Yes, a case some years ago, a man who was stalking a local actress, he couldn't separate between her and the character she played in a TV show, he wanted to punish her for her infidelity. It took months before we were able to make him realize that it was just a TV show, make believe, the result of somebody writing a very popular novel the company wanted to turn into a series!"

Judith shook her head. "Humans, sometimes their stupidity is unbelievable."

Thran snickered. "Yes, Einstein said that there only are two things which are infinite, space and human stupidity and he wasn't so sure about the first. "

Suddenly a computer beeped and Judith did run over, hope written all over her face. She stared at the screen and let out a sigh of relief. "Guys, she is identified. Meet Justine Combs, she is a professional scam artist, damnation and thunder, this woman has done it all!"

Thran did cock his head, his eyes very keen. "She has been arrested?"

Judith nodded. "Oh-yes! Several times, once for trying to presume the identity of a police officer and another time for insurance fraud. She tried to sue a restaurant for having sold her a meal which did contain nuts but the restaurant didn't use nuts at all so it was exposed as a fraud rather easily"

Bard stared at the sheet which covered the earthly remains of this Ms Combs. "Still, she was a human being and deserves justice. What was done to her…"

Judith sighed. "Yes, she was only thirty one, believe that? So young!"

The intercom did beep and Judith answered it, they heard Thor's voice. "The hotel manager called me, they are gonna make the anonymous call now, get ready for a storm"

Bard and Thran stared at each other, now anything could happen.

It took exactly three hours, then the media was buzzing like a bee swarm, nobody did really believe that the dead person was Ms Cloudfield, even if the hotel did confirm the identity of the deceased person. The real Ms Cloudfield was safe in Hawaii and the hotel she lived on had closed down in order to prevent anybody from seeing that she was there and alive. Now it was a good thing that she was such a private and secretive person, very few knew she was there and the other guests had barely seen her at all. The staff did keep their mouths shut and Ms Cloudfield had been ordered to lay low by her agent, until the perp was apprehended.

The TV reporters did gather around the hotel where the murder had happened and the internet was alight with all sorts of theories. Some were absolutely outrageous like the ones which claimed that the actress had been murdered by the Illuminati for having portrayed Mary Magdalene in a movie. Others said that aliens had killed her since she was to play in a sci fi movie come the spring. It was a chaos and the movies she had played in become even more popular within a few hours. Some streaming sites did crash and the movie companies must have thought that people were insane for suddenly they made money on movies which had been almost forgotten for almost a decade.

Bard was at the phone arguing with some nosey reporter when Thor waved his hand at him, he did look pale and Bard hung up and ran over to the office. Thor was staring at the screen of his computer and Bard felt dizzy, almost to the point of dropping to the floor. It was a video, and it was horrible. Thor was staring at the wall, his expression one of barely controlled horror. "It is several videos and a heck of a lot of photos, it is…"

Bard made a croak, his voice didn't work at all now. "Ah, Gods, it is just gruesome"

Thor did push a button. "Look at this"

A piece of text appeared, white on black. "It ought to be mine!"

Bard saw that Thran did enter too and he stared at the text, eyes narrow and there was a quivering in his jaw muscles, as if he was grinding his teeth. "God! I recon the videos are graphic?"

Thor nodded. "Even if they had been CGI this would have been deemed as too graphic for viewing, I just pray that the perp only sent it to me, not to the media"

Thran shook his head. "Sorry Thor, he has sent it everywhere, he wants to be famous, he wants to be remembered, to be looked up to, feared and admired. This is a person who is so twisted I can barely begin to describe it."

Thor swallowed. "Psychopath?"

Thran shook his head. "That is just the first letter"

Thran turned to the screen. "I need to watch those videos, and the photos. The perp must have done something which can reveal something about him. At least I can try to get inside of his mind"

Bard cringed. "Are you sure you want to…"

Thran sighed, his shoulders did sag. "No, I don't really want to do this but I have to, I am the only profiler available. Don't worry, I can handle it"

Bard grasped his arm. "I will watch it with you, you shouldn't have to carry this burden alone"

Thran just smiled and squeezed Bard's hand back in thanks. Thor did close the door to the office and pulled down the shades. "Alright guys, go ahead but if it gets too much don't hesitate to leave, I want you up and ready to work, not curled up in a corner with severe PTSD"

Thran gave Thor a thumbs up and hit the start button on the keyboard. Bard swallowed hard and it took about twenty seconds before he did regret his decision, a lot!

Thran was staring at the screen, his jaw set and his gaze like steel, cold and intense. He did make notes, hastily scribbled letters upon a piece of paper and Bard wished that he had owned Thran's ability to distance himself from what he did see. The video was horrible, Bard felt sick to his gut and he couldn't believe the horrors he did watch. Torture didn't even start to describe it and all the time they saw the face of the woman, staring at the camera, eyes wide open with terror and pain.

She was forced to wear a sort of rubber cat suit and the perp was standing there with a gun, aiming for her head, making her crawl on the floor like an animal. Bard tried to concentrate upon the perp. It was a tall person, perhaps six foot four and very slender, dressed in a black army suit and a ski mask. The skin around the eyes was painted black and Bard could see that the eyes were dark blue. Thran made a grimace. "He is wearing contacts, the colour is too intense."

Bard nodded and tried to see something else which told him anything about the person but it was hard. The thick black cloth did cover the body and the movements were powerful and yet elegant. Every move seemed to be almost rehearsed and Thran was grunting. "He is very careful, and yet there is such a display of anger here, wild untamed wrath. Just watch him whip her? He isn't holding back, he is giving it all that he has got and yet he isn't stepping out of line even once, he wants this to last, to keep her alive for as long as possible while making her suffer. And he is set upon humiliating her, dehumanizing her, making her into an object, he is trying to ruin her reputation I think, and also feeding his own wrath."

Bard nodded, he was staring at the wall, the perp was raping the victim now, with just his fly open. Thran was frowning. "What the fuck? Did he arrive there already wearing a condom?"

The profiler did pause the video and then he did zoom inn, the image became rather grainy fast but he did squint at the screen. "Bard, do you see what I see?"

Bard tried to smile. "Uhm…an erection with a condom on it?"

Thran shook his head. "No, look! Where the shaft meet the body? It is visible for just a few seconds"

He did wind back a few seconds and started the video again, Bard had to get really close to see what Thran was referring to. "Is he wearing a cock ring?!"

Thran nodded "Yes, he was hard already when he did get it out of his pants, I am starting to think that he was more prepared than we think"

Bard frowned. "Uh, what do you mean?"

Thran turned off the screen. "Listen, what makes a man wear such a devise?"

Bard shrugged, his face turning slightly red. "Well, to avoid losing an erection? To last longer?"

Thran nodded. "Yes, and also, to get an erection and keeping it, in cases of impotence"

Bard gaped. "Are you serious?! Could the perp be impotent?"

Thran nodded. "Wouldn't surprise me at all, that sort of problems can cause some men to become very frustrated and even violent, they feel as if they have lost their masculinity and power and seek to regain it, to whatever cost. They have to prove to themselves that they are still men, still in control."

Bard closed his eyes for a second. "I have heard about that yes, so you think he has problems with keeping an erection?"

Thran smiled, his eyes were shining. "Oh yes, and to do this to the actress he had to be able to get it up, he couldn't risk it being unwilling to function so he made sure that it stays up"

Bard nodded. "And?"

Thran did look frantic. "He is desperate Bard, willing to risk serious injury to get his vengeance or whatever it is he is after. What man is willing to risk losing his ability to fuck just for the sake of getting even or fulfilling some sick fantasy?"

Bard stared at his partner, it was dawning upon him. "Uhm, someone who has nothing to lose?"

Thran nodded and did look like a school teacher with a very good student. "Exactly! He is either completely impotent already or he is going to be unable to get an erection soon. I am starting to feel that this perp was in a hurry to get it done"

Bard frowned. "Ms Comb was in the wrong place at the wrong time?"

Thran sent him a sad grin. "Yes, if she hadn't chosen to visit that hotel posing as Ms Cloudfield he would have had to wait for the real actress to arrive."

Bard sighed. "Poor woman, that is bad luck at its most extreme."

Thran was obviously thinking hard. "I just cannot get it all to add up. The text he sent to the actress, and showed in the video. What was he talking about? I cannot wrap my head around it?"

Bard made a grimace. "Well, it cannot have been a role? Ms Cloudfield was a woman after all and if the perp is male…"

Thran suddenly looked as if he had seen a ghost, his eyes were huge and he did grasp Bard's hand, so hard it actually hurt. "Oh shit, we have been idiots, no, we have been blind!"

He did start the video again and zoomed inn again, in one shot you could see the perp in profile and Thran froze the picture. "Bard, what do you see?"

Bard didn't understand. "Uh, the perp?"

Thran was grinding his teeth. "NO! goddamn it, his profile!"

Bard tried to think like a cop again, and then he frowned. "Uh, he is a bit chesty for a slender guy?"

Thran nodded. "Yes, exactly ,there it is! The whole truth!"

Bard was blinking. "Excuse me? I don't understand anything, nada!"

Thran closed the screen again, he was almost panting. "The movie, about the dancer. Ms Cloudfield does portray a trans woman, trying to become a ballerina. She almost got an Oscar for that job."

Bard just stared at Thran who stared back, eyes wide as saucers. It would have looked absolutely ridiculous if the situation had been different. "The list of names, it is the woman!"

Bard couldn't believe his own ears. "Are you serious?!"

Thran nodded. "Yes! Bellatrix is a trans woman, probably an actress and not just a dancer."

Bard swallowed. "And still technically a male?"

Thran nodded. "Yes, probably impotent due to female hormones but with a ring and a pump the old willy is still capable of working, if only once"

Bard felt a bit faint. "I can hardly believe it"

Thran sent him a faint grin. "I understand but I am sure of this. The rage and the violence is all male, a real woman would act differently, with much more subtle methods. She is taking away the things which made Ms Cloudfield so beloved by everybody, her lady like behaviour and decency."

Bard could only whisper. "Bitch!"

Thran nodded. "Yes, hell hath no wrath like that of a woman scorn and if she used to be a man expect something spectacular"

He did grasp his phone and called Elisa. "It is Thran, do me a favour. See if you can find the address of Ms Bellatrix Lindenwald?"

Elisa was on it and Thran turned to Bard. "This is rather special, I have never heard of a similar case ever! People who are trans are usually not this mad, but there is a rotten apple in every barrel or so they say. The rage and the violence is typical for a male who feels that he has been betrayed somehow."

Elisa came back on. "Thran? She has a registered address in the next county, a small farm. She is working for a company within this city, Ithildin dancing company. Right now they are staging "The nutcracker". "

Bard and Thran took a collective breath. "Then she is most likely there, we have to work fast, before she realize that she killed the wrong person."

Bard did wet his lips. "What do you think will happen if she does find out?"

Thran made a grimace. "A complete meltdown, possibly a violent one too."

He ran out the door and called out to Thor who did look a bit like a deer caught in the headlights for a few seconds. Thran could be terrifying at times and now he was ablaze with zeal and also a sort of anger. "We need all the available men, sent to the old Theatre downtown. The killer is there Thor, and it is a trans woman named Bellatrix Lindenwald"

Thor gaped. "Are you nuts?"

Thran shook his head. "Not more than usual no, I think she must have applied for the role in a movie which became very popular and Ms Cloudfield got the role instead of her. To some that sort of thing can grow into a obsession."

Thor did nod. "Alright, I will send all units to the place but God help you if you are wrong on this one"

Thran grinned. "Trust me, I am not!"

He did wave a finger. "And no sirens or lights, just very quiet approach. The perp cannot know that she is about to get caught before it is too late"

Thor ran off to give the orders and Thran did turn to Bard and gave him a swift kiss, his eyes were aglow with eager energy. "I just pray that we are able to catch this person without any bloodshed. "

Bard ran to get his gun and Thran did find a couple of flak wests and then they did find the fastest police cruiser within the garage. Thran did drive as usual and now he did really reveal that he could drive like a race car driver. He did use the road like nobody else Bard had ever encountered and while they were driving Bard did google the name. After just a little searching he did confirm that Bellatrix had tried to get the role in the famous movie but the company had decided that Bellatrix was too masculine for the job, in spite of having gone through hormonal treatment for many years and being a very good dancer. They wanted someone pretty and Bellatrix hadn't been in any movies after that. She had just danced for several companies but never got further than that.

Thran was quiet and his eyes were distant. "There is yet something here which doesn't add up, I just cannot understand it"

Bard frowned. "What?"

Thran didn't turn his head. "A real trans woman is in fact a female at heart, a real woman when it comes to psyche. This person doesn't act very feminine at all, it is very weird"

Bard just shrugged, he wasn't some shrink and had no idea of what Thran truly meant.

The old theatre was downtown, next to the town hall and it was a grand building which once upon a time had been regarded as one of the finest in the whole country. It was impressive and very important historically. Now huge posters did cover the façade telling of the grand ballet which was being performed there each night and Bard and Thran did pull into a parking lot and waited until at least four other units joined them. Two of the officers did go with Bard and Thran and the others did cover all entrances and did prepare themselves rather well. Thran whispered to them over the com units. "The suspect can be very dangerous, don't let the fact that she is a female fool you. This is one sick individual and she is not going to go down peacefully if triggered"

Thran and Bard did hear music and they did walk slowly towards it, the officers at their backs and Thran did look very tense. They entered a great hall with a stage and there were rehearsals being held at the moment. There were dancers scurrying around and Thran and Bard did hide their guns and so did the officers. They walked down to the stage casually and relaxed and the dancers didn't really notice them at first. A woman who did look as if she never had enjoyed a decent meal in her life did approach them, her eyes were narrow and she didn't appreciate any sort of disturbance, that was very clear.

Bard did put on his best smile. "Ma'am, sorry to disturb but we do need to find Ms Bellatrix Lindenwald, it is very important"

The woman did frown. "She is in the wardrobe, I do not like it when my dancers are being distracted so it better be very important indeed"

Thran did show the woman his police badge and she did frown even deeper. "Has she parked in the wrong place again? We have told you before, the parking lots are marked in the wrong manner."

Bard shook his head. "I am sorry to say that it is more serious than that"

The woman did look as if she was trying to suck the last drops of juice out of a very sour lemon, she made a sort of grimace. "Alright, but be quick at it. The performance starts in just an hour"

Thran did smile and Bard felt like rolling his eyes, they could only hope that the woman didn't have an important role for if that was the case this show would have to be cancelled. The hallway leading towards the stairs was filled with dancers and helpers and Bard and Thran did move through the crowd as gently as possible. The wardrobes were placed within a very narrow corridor and there were at least twenty doors. And the corridor was packed, if something went wrong here people could get hurt, seriously.

The officers were nervous and Thran did bite his lower lip, the room with Bellatrix name was at the end of the corridor and rather elegant with nice painting and Thran did whisper. "It is a fitting room, rather large I bet."

Bard knew that this was where the workers got their costumes fitted and made and he did make a grimace. He would have preferred a small room. Thran nodded at the officers and opened the door, there was a row of low tables with mirrors on them placed along one wall and then the room opened up into several rows of clothes racks and Bard saw hundreds of places to hide right away. Three women sat by the tables in their costumes, putting on make up and Thran stared at them. Neither of them were very tall, just small willowy ballerinas and he did smile, his most relaxing smile, the three did smile back. "Excuse me my ladies, Ms Bellatrix? Is she somewhere to be found?"

One of them pointed at the back of the room. "She is working on a costume back there, she is to play the nut cracker you know"

Bard had to cringe. Ouch, the show would be without its main attraction for sure. Thran did saunter off as if nothing was amiss and Bard was straight behind him and saw a very tall figure standing by a clothing mannequin, obviously trying to attach some pieces of cloth to the uniform. Bard did almost gape, the person was very feminine in spite of the height, in fact she was gorgeous. She turned her head and saw them, first she frowned and then she obviously realized that something was off for she did bolt.

She was heading for a door in the corner but Thran got in the way and she let out a hiss and grasped for something from a box on a table. It was a sword and she did stab after Thran but he did evade the attack easily and grasped a sword too. He did parry like a master and the woman did reveal that she was no fencer at all. Before long she got forced into a corner and Thran did hit her sword and got it out of her hands. She screamed and tried to reach Thran but the officers did storm forth and grasped her and managed to get the cuffs onto her. She was screaming like a banshee and the voice was surprisingly light. Bard had to look at the face again, tried to see it as a man's face and it wasn't impossible but this person had to have looked very androgynous to start with.

Thran sent her a cold grin. "You are hereby arrested for murder, I bet you already know that don't you?"

She screeched. "You goddam fucking idiots, she deserved it, she snatched the role right before me, I should have had it, it should have been mine. I took it back, all the fame, all the praise!"

Bard stared at the tall woman who was struggling against the cuffs as the officers did haul her off. "That doesn't justify murdering somebody in such a horrible manner"

The woman did sneer at him. "What do you know about that ha? I did it all to be like her, to get it all. The fame and the wealth and the respect! It was for nothing!"

Thran was staring at her, his face like stone. "You aren't really a trans sexual now are you? You just wanted to be a woman to get the good roles"

She laughed, a shrill laughter. "Of course! Goddamn bitches, they get it all don't they! They ought to be raped the whole bunch of them, they get the jobs, they get the fame and they don't have to pay for a single fucking thing!"

Thran was silent and Bard just shook his head. He had heard of so called " incels" before but never anybody so crazy he had tried to become a woman to reap the benefits of being female. She swore again. "Goddamn cunt, but I showed her, she was a whore, they all are. Spreading their legs for anyone with power and being goddamn nuns when an ordinary guy tries to get some. Fucking sluts"

Thran did smile, a very sinister smile. "Know what, for anybody trying to live as a woman you have a very un-ladylike language, and perhaps your choice was a bit hastily made for trying to pose as a female while hating women…well, that is a bit…self-contradictory."

The officers were struggling to hold her as they hauled her into the squad car and Thran did take a deep sigh of relief. Bard did pat him on his back. "I didn't know that you knew how to fence?"

Thran just shrugged. "I had to learn it as a kid, and I was good. It was actually fun"

Bard smiled. "I could see that yes, it was impressive"

Thran sighed and sat down, closed the car door behind him. "I was thinking that the perp was a crazy and sick person, a psychopath of extreme volatility and I was right. This is one who lack any form of empathy and hates women with such a ferocity that he chose to become one thinking that women automatically gets all the good jobs."

Bard shook his head. "And got very disappointed indeed, when Ms Cloudfield got that role he must have lost it completely"

Thran almost giggled. "Yeah, talk about disappointment, seems as if it isn't enough to have boobs to get a job, you have to have talent too"

Bard nodded. "So what now?"

Thran drove onto the street. "She will be interrogated, I will be there of course and then there will be a trial and so on. I bet that they will place her in a top security prison."

Bard did frown. "A women's prison?"

Thran had a devilish grin on his face. "No, for she isn't really a woman, just a man pretending to be trans, because he believes that being a woman automatically gives you great benefits. Guess if he is gonna be popular in jail"

Bard had to cringe and then he had to laugh, it was mean but for somebody who had done something that horrible the fate would be well deserved.

Thran was caught up in the interrogations for a few days and the news spread that the dead body had been an impostor and Ms Cloudfield did return from Hawaii and when Bellatrix did hear about this she refused to believe it until Ms Cloudfield did call Thran on skype so the woman could see that it was in fact her and that she was very much alive.

The reaction was worthy of a price, if not an Oscar then at least the price for loudest roar of the century. All femininity was thrown out the window as Bellatrix did scream the worst insults anybody had ever heard and Ms Cloudfield did end the conversation by in a sweet voice saying "Ditto my dear"

That made the officers and Thran burst into a fit of laughter for Ms Cloudfield did once again prove that she was a lady to her very fingertips and in every way a person of impeccable manners. Thran did stare at Bellatrix who was red eyed and almost boiling. Since she hadn't been given any hormonal injections since the apprehension she was starting to grow two day shade and there wasn't much about her which reminded them of a ballerina now. "Now there you had a real lady, a woman with a capital w. You see, trying to be the great pretender isn't very wise, your victim did pay with her life and I am sorry to say it but you will pay with your virtue. That pretty face of yours and those fake boobs will make you everybody's darling once you are behind bars. But maybe it will teach you a lesson or two, about the everyday life of way too many women all over the world. Think about that when they rape you in the showers"

Bellatrix did just stare, if a gaze could kill they would all have been dead but Thran did just wave his hand at her. "I will give the judge a full report on your mental state, don't doubt even for a second that you are heading for jail. You are a depraved and sick and evil person but not mentally deranged and I wish that you will stay there and rot for the rest of your miserable life. But I am not a bad person so I will give you a piece of advice, just to be nice. Make sure to make the biggest and meanest guy your boyfriend, then you may be safe from gang bangs. Or else your ass will be the place everybody in the prison do visit on a regular basis"

He did turn and smiled at the fuming person, blowing her a kiss and closed the door looking very pleased, listening to the impressive tirade of cuss words. He had been unprofessional but it had been worth it.

Elisa had managed to get a hold of Justine's family and they were flying in to claim the body, they had always known that Justine would end up dead sooner or later, in their eyes she had been a sinner and a depraved person but they had to agree that not even her wrong doings did justify her terrible end. Judith didn't share the most graphic details of Justine's demise and the funeral workers had managed to hide the worst damage so she did look relatively normal when her parents came to see her for the last time. Judith was very grateful for their assistance for she knew how to cut open a body, not to fix it to make it look alive again. The missing breast had been found in Ms Bellatrix freezer so it too would be buried with its owner, Bellatrix had sent the files to Thor just to mock the police and she had also sent her videos to several sites for people like herself, men who hate women because they are unable to see their own short comings and blames the world for their problems instead of taking a look in the mirror and trying to change.

The trial against Bellatrix was held just two weeks after her apprehension, she had already confessed to the crime and when they did interview the workers on the hotel she had stayed at they did confess to having seen a telescope within the room, and she had often acted very strangely whenever Ms Cloudfield happened to be at her favourite hotel. That Ms Combs did show up when she did was the chance Bellatrix did wait for, the actress being alone without her entourage had been perfect and Bard had to wonder about the odd dance fate sometimes tread. Two impostors, being caught by obsession. One by greed, the other by hatred and it had ended terribly for them both.

Thran and Bard did get some days alone and enjoyed them to the fullest and a few months later Bard did speak to a police officer who had visited the prison where Bellatrix did serve her time, which was ten lifetimes and then some. They had kept her in isolation for a while but then they had to release her out among the other prisoners and it had taken about three hours before the other inmates did gang up on the former woman and had their way with her as the police officer politely put it. Now she was the bitch of one of the gang leaders there and he would often allow his followers to make use of her to keep their loyalty. Thran giggled when Bard told him. Sometimes Karma does come back to bite you and she can indeed be quite a bitch.


	11. You give love a bad name

Chapter 11: You give love a bad name…

Robert was tired of this, it was an never ending problem and he had seen too much of it over his career. The person who laid in a pool of blood on the couch was perhaps not a man he would weep over but still, he had been a human being. And somebody had snatched the very life away from the man, he was far from the only one these days unfortunately.

Now the face was almost gone, blasted off by a shotgun shot and judging by the damage the culprit had used some sort of special ammo. And then there was the final shot, through the heart with some sort of hand gun. He was not very optimistic about this at all, such murders happened all the time and you did rarely manage to solve them. There wasn't anything there which could hint at the identity of the shooter and he had a feeling that this was done by somebody who had just walked straight inn, fired off the shotgun and then the handgun and left. Not that it did surprise him, the dead man was a well known face, every cop in the precinct and the city did know him and he was loathed and hated by everybody, the dogs of the K9 unit included. Mr Secker had been a piece of scum and Robert hoped that there was a special seat reserved for this guy down in hell, he did deserve to end up there for sure.

He did sigh and gestured towards the technicians and the coroner, they could start doing their job now. He had to head back to HQ now and report but he was rather sure that the boys would gather to celebrate later that evening. Too bad neither Bard nor Thranduil was able to be there, both were home on sick leave and Robert had been told to cover for them until they did recover. He had promised that he would call though, and keep them updated and he cringed as he fished his cell phone out of the pocket. He didn't really want to bother them but he had to, they would have his hide if he didn't.

Bard tried not to cough too loud, the house was large and the rooms well insulated but still, he didn't want to keep anybody awake with his misery. Thran was sitting next to him on the bed, trying to make Bard eat yet another bowl of chicken soup. He did cringe, he had eaten so much of this stuff he soon would grow a beak and start to cluck. It was the typical luck, he had gotten the flu and it had escalated into bronchitis and then pneumonia because he was such a stubborn ass. Thran had caught the flu too but he did recover remarkably fast and stayed home simply to care for Bard, and the kids. They too had caught the flu and only Sigrid had escaped and she was instead going through the tempest of a really nasty breakup, teenager style. The "I will never love anyone again!" and "I just want to dieeee!" sort of outbursts were both loud and intense and Bard knew that she had admired the lad from a distance before they got "together" for less than a week. Love at that age was a fleeting and fragile thing for sure.

So Sigrid was all gloomy and depressed and the others were sick as dogs and Bard wondered who the heck they should sue for this misery. The sad fact was that everybody was vaccinated. Last year the flu had knocked out more than 80% of the work force at the station and Thor had ordered everybody to get a flu shot that very autumn, in time for the flu season. Too bad that the strain this year turned out to be a new one the doctors weren't prepared for at all, some exotic virus coming from God alone knew where. It was a nasty strain and it did make a lot of people very sick and Bard did regret that he had refused to call in sick. He was rather sure that Thran was right in his assumptions that Bard could have avoided this mess if he had listened and worn warmer clothes and Jean, oh by every God, she did take such good care of them but she did have a "I told you so" attitude which did make Bard feel like a disobedient kid at times. Thran was almost completely healed now and he did spoil Bard royally but Bard felt miserable. He didn't like laying there like some useless piece of meat. He was halfway down the bowl when the phone rang and he did thank the Gods again for saving him from more soup. If he ate more liquid food now he was sure he would turn into a jellyfish soon. He could kill for a juicy steak now but with a throat which felt as if he had tried to deep throat a raw iron it wasn't gonna happen anytime soon.

"Bard" His voice did sound as if he was a bear coming out of hibernation, not all the coffee in the world couldn't cure that horrible almost hang over like feeling he had. He saw that it was Robert calling, the guy was a good investigator hired inn from another precinct and Bard did like him. "Robert here, just calling to tell that somebody finally has blown up Mr Secker. He is dead"

Bard had to sit up. "Truly? Oh my, I wanna piss on that guy's grave!"

Robert did chuckle. "Don't we all? I bet that funeral will be an odd one for sure, but jokes aside, he got blasted with a shotgun fired straight at the face and then shot through the heart. I am thinking a paid hit"

Bard swallowed, goddamn his throat and trouble breathing. "Then the culprit is long gone, I bet there aren't any clues?"

Robert was obviously opening his car door, they could hear it. "Nope, a negative there. Not even shells. No doubt, the murderer was well prepared, it was an execution."

Thran had been listening in. "Mr Secker?! I have heard the name"

Bard did end the conversation. "Of course you have, every cop in this city has heard about Mr Secker, asshole of the century and the posterchild for everything nasty, disgusting and revolting"

Thran did frown and put the bowl of soup aside. "I think I heard Thor speak about him once, he had assaulted a female parking guard?"

Bard did nod. "Oh yes, Mr Secker had some rules he did live by, first of all, he was the man and I mean THE MAN, the epitome of masculinity and his word was law for he was flawless. Second of all he had every right to treat his family just the way he wanted to since he was THE MAN, and third, everybody who isn't as white, male, Christian and conservative as him nor as fond of guns, booze and being a dick isn't anything but a pussy and ought to be bitch slapped from here to kingdom come."

Thran sighed. "A narcissist with psychopathic tendencies."

Bard nodded. "No shit, even Nazi's and the clan would feel ashamed to be seen with this dude, he made the banjo boy from Deliverance seem like a top notch scientist. But he saw himself as perfect, Gods, I have no idea of how many times 911 have sent us to his home, to save his wife or the kids from being turned into bloody pulp"

Thran did grunt. "Oh yeah, I think I heard about that, isn't she the woman who was rushed to the E.R with both her ears more or less ripped off?"

Bard shuddered and nodded. "Yeah, for not listening when he asked for his food to be served at a certain temperature. The man was a power hungry beast who got off by abusing and humiliating others. Darn it but I am glad he isn't alive anymore, the world just became a better place"

Thran nodded and grasped the bowl of food. "So am I, now, finish your soup my dear, I want to give you a hot bath afterwards"

Bard blinked. "A hot bath sounds amazing, but this soup, I swear I am gonna start laying eggs soon if Jean makes more chicken soup"

Thran did snicker. "Oh come on, there is nothing better than chicken soup when being sick, everybody knows that"

Bard growled. "Oh I can come up with a lot of things way better, like….steak!"

Thran pushed the spoon into his hand. "No steak for you yet, but as soon as you are well again I promise I will take you to the best steak restaurant in the city, if you eat your soup that is. Deal?"

Bard rolled his eyes and sighed. "Alright, but it better be worth it"

Thran winked. "I am gonna make it worth it, believe me"

A few blocks away from the business district of the city there was a street which was famous for its many restaurants, many of the stock brokers and businessmen came there to enjoy lunch or a better dinner to seal a deal and the restaurants were mostly high end with one exception. At the end of the street was a restaurant which was more of an ordinary diner, it did serve good food, cheap food too and in large amounts. The owner was an elderly woman who had come from the UK in the sixties and she was hard working and kept the business running simply because of the location. She had bought the place just a year after she arrived thanks to a huge inheritance and now the building was very valuable and since the restaurant was rather normal when it came to food prices the clerks and ordinary workers came there.

This day was a busy one, there was a frantic crowd working like mad in the kitchen and the owner had wisely enough lowered the price of some of the things which were fast to make and also delicious. They were famous for their baguettes and pancakes and since the price was even lower than usual most ordered that. Mrs Greenvale knew the tricks and she knew how to make the customers satisfied too. She was always dressed like everybody's favourite old grandma and the sight of her usually made even the worst complainers shut up. Not that the customers had a reason to complain but some are always out to create trouble and some did try to relieve themselves of stress simply by being nasty.

Every table was busy and there were people running around, some did enter to find that the restaurant was full and left immediately while some did hover around waiting for a table or even a free chair. The waitresses did run around like pin pong balls and since the owner was smart they all wore comfortable shoes, nobody wanted to end the day with sore feet and blisters. One of the waitresses did scoot to the kitchen door to get the next order and a guy by the window did yell at her. "Hey, you look like a juicy piece of ass, wanna come over and sit on me?"

She did cringe and sent the man a cold glare and the guy just laughed and continued eating. He was gobbling down a huge plate of pasta and ate with his whole face. She knew the type, and she knew that she ought to stay the hell away from him. The man was there rather often and she knew that nobody working there liked him at all. She was on her way back with a bowl of vegetable soup when the guy suddenly went stiff, then his face went beet red as he did grasp his throat with a grunt and the body started to convulse violently. Everybody stared for a few seconds in terrified confusion until one screamed for the staff to call 911. The man did collapse onto the floor, foaming at the mouth and eyes rolling and some yelled that he was having a heart attack but the waitress knew that the symptoms didn't match this at all. This was something else. They tried doing CPR and made room for him but when the ambulance did arrive two minutes later the guy was already dead. And the owner was horrified for if this was something caused by the food they could go bankrupt very fast. She was terribly nervous and the waitresses came to comfort her, they all were sure that the guy had gotten just what he had ordered and there hadn't been anything wrong with the food at all.

At the precinct the investigators were gathered in the main room. Thor was giving people the tasks of the evening and the evening shift had already heard about the not so untimely death of Mr Secker. There had been heard cheers and Thor did just shake his head, in reality he too would have liked to cheer but that would have been unprofessional. The station had enjoyed a rather peaceful few weeks, the flu epidemic made even the crooks stay indoors and that was of course a good thing. Thor did miss Bard and Thran though, they were the best pair they had and they had been working on a case concerning a robbery turned murder. Some desperado had broken into a jeweller's store and stabbed the woman behind the counter, they hadn't caught the bastard yet and the people who had taken over the job from Bard and Thran were good but not as good as the two.

Judith was as always the queen of the underworld, the morgue was the one place in the whole building where everybody, even Thor, felt out of their comfort zone and she was doing some ordinary work this day. The morgue didn't run itself, there was plenty of work to do and right now she was attacking one of the tables with some metal shine and a piece of cloth. It was hard work and she lifted her head, was that an ambulance arriving? Oh yes, it was, wonderful, real work, not this boring stuff. Judith ran to open the doors and two EMT's did push a gurney into the entrance. Both did look tired, they had a lot of work these days. "Ma'am, this guy was a D.O.A and the death was suspicious. He collapsed at a diner downtown and it went very fast, the people there said he was dead within three minutes."

Judith did look very professional but she was cheering on the inside, yes! "Right, how long has he been dead? Does he have any sort of identification?"

The man did reach into a bag laying on the dead guys torso. "Yes, here, he has been dead for about twenty minutes"

Judith took the wallet she was being handed and tilted her head. "Mr Jonathan Wickers, hmm, an attorney? What diner was it?"

The EMT did send her a polite grin. "The queens crown, downtown."

Judith nodded. "I know the place, a nice and cosy restaurant, not too expensive and good food!"

She did pull the sheet off the dead man and made a grimace. He was not a pretty sight but she was already rather sure of the cause of death. She did smile at the two EMT's and they left with a polite nod. Judith did crack her knuckled. "So Mr Wickers, let us get to know each other better shall we?"

She checked the wallet, there was a driver's license, a few credit cards, several small photos of some pretty girls and a medical emergency card. She pulled it out. The guy was allergic to peanuts, that is usually a pretty severe allergy and she was checking through his clothes to see if he had an epi pen somewhere but no. She made a grimace, this guy had died from anaphylactic shock or else you could call her a snail. She did draw some blood and before long she was very busy. And she was right, within half an hour she was grinning to herself, her initial hunch was confirmed. She did open the guy's stomach to find pasta in it, and that made Judith frown. There isn't peanuts in pasta? She knew the restaurant, it was very professionally run and they would never allow food to become cross contaminated in any way. Plus peanuts weren't in any of their ordinary dishes. Could a customer have brought a bag of peanuts and spilled some? That would require an almost absurd sensitivity but that wasn't unheard of. She did cut out the stomach and laid it upon a table, removed all the content and Judith did tense up and blinked. She got a pair of pliers and some extra light and bent over the undigested food, among the pasta there was something odd.

She fished it out, it was the remains of a capsule of some sorts, very small and the same colour as pasta sauce. It was halfway dissolved but she did carry it off to another table and her heart was starting to beat a wee bit faster. It did contain some remains of a sort of powder and also what looked like a tiny piece of paper?

Judith got a magnifying glass and pulled the paper out, it was curled up but she did manage to straighten it out. It was a heart, the size of the O on an ordinary keyboard and black. Judith did swallow hard, her eyes got wide. She had seen that heart before, the very day as a matter of fact. The infamous Mr Secker had been brought inn just before lunch and she had noticed that somebody had drawn a heart on his hand, with a sharpie. She had believed that it was just a sort of fake tattoo or something like that but it was the same type of heart.

She had to think, she did run the content of the capsule through the chemical analysis tools they had and yes, it was ground up peanut. Somebody had murdered this guy, and it had to have been well planned. She didn't want to believe it but could it be a coincidence? No, she didn't believe in that sort of thing, there had to be some sort of connection there and she would find it. She stared at the phone, calling Thor and telling him that they had two murders that day instead of one wasn't tempting at all, but she did trust her gut instinct and right now it would have made Peter Parker's spider sense look vague and weak. She reached for the phone, it was gonna be one of them days for sure.

The school which was named after the city's founder was a huge one, they had several thousand students and it did consist of five huge buildings. It was an elementary school and it was well known for its good environment and excellent teachers. One of the buildings was a gymnastics hall with a huge swimming pool, training rooms and everything you needed for the physical training of the children. Mrs Johansen was the swimming teacher and she was very proud of her job. In her fifteen years there she had taught hundreds of kids how to swim well and she loved it. She had once been a professional swimmer and a lifeguard but that was decades ago.

Now she was in her fifties and she wasn't really all that slim and slender anymore but who cared, she was an excellent swimming teacher and as she said, blubber makes you float. She didn't care that some of the kids called her "Mrs Whale!" behind her back and today she was gonna teach a whole class of girls. They were all ready to enter the pool, it was dark inside for the room with the pool hadn't been used since yesterday and she did turn on the lights as they entered through the door. The pool was a huge one, twenty times fifty meters and Mrs Johansen was turning around to tell the girls to remove their slippers when she did see something floating in the water. At first she believed that it was one of the dummies they used to teach the older kids CPR, then she realized that those dummies would sink…

It was a person, no doubt about it and without thinking she did dive inn, her old life guard instincts kicked in and she swam swiftly towards the body which lay floating face down. She did grasp the person and tipped him around and she let out a small shriek. It was Jason, the janitor who was responsible for the whole hall and he was dead. There was no doubt about that, he was pale as a clean sheet and his throat was cut, from one side to the other. There couldn't be any blood in him at all and Mrs Johansen did gather all her strength and yelled. "Girls, return to the locker room now!"

The girls did stare at her, eyes huge and filled with fear and Mrs Johansen didn't move the body at all, she waved her hand. "Is he dead?"

One of the girls did stand there looking utterly stricken.

She tried to keep calm. "Yes Samantha, it appears that Jason has had a small…mishap. Go, now!"

She caught the attention of one of the more mature girls. "Jenny, go to Mrs Burns and tell her to come to the swimming hall right now, and close the entrance"

Jenny ran off and Mrs Johansen felt cold to the core. Who could have done something like that to anybody? Jason was an elderly chap, perhaps in his late sixties and a quiet and very private man who lived in a house just beside the school. He did never fail to do his duty and he was always very good at what he did do. The head master Mrs Burns had nothing but praise for him and the school did appreciate having such a good worker there. Was there a madman out there?

Mrs Johansen did tow the dead body to the edge of the pool and hauled it up, the cops would come for sure but she doubted that there was no reason to let him lay there, every piece of evidence had to have been washed off hours ago and the blood was probably mixed with all the water of the pool. The school would have to replace it, every single gallon of it!

She did try to find something to cover the body with but there was nothing there, she did grasp the poor old man's shirt and tried to make him look at least a bit more dignified but the fabric did rip. The janitor had never been a person who spent money on himself at all, the shirt could be a decade old or more and she tried to arrange it so it didn't look that bad but Jason's whole chest was exposed now, white and bony and sunken. But there was something there which made Jenny frown. Did Jason have a tattoo? He wasn't the type at all, but there was indeed a small heart placed on his chest, over own heart. It was the size of a thumbprint and she rubbed at it, no tattoo, a drawing. Probably done with a marker pen of some sorts and she didn't understand at all.

Within five minutes Mrs Burns did arrive and chaos did erupt, the school was sent into lock down and Jenny had to wait there for the police to arrive. This was not going to be a good day at all!

Bard was tucked inn under the blankets and half asleep, he was using some antibiotics which did taste like crap and Thran had massaged his chest with peppermint oil which did help his breathing a lot. It wasn't something the doctors had ordered but Thran did insist, it was an old trick and at least his aching muscles felt better. Jean was taking care of the kids and Bard felt very guilty that he wasn't there with them, he ought to look after them but right now he was just too sick. Luckily they were old enough to understand and even Tilda did realize that her daddy did need to recover in peace. Thran did barely sniffle and Bard was jealous, his husband had iron health. Thran's phone did ring and he picked it up and left the room, Bards ears were very sensitive now, probably due to the fever and he did try to hear what this was about but Thran had closed the door. Damn it. Bard was bored, that was the truth.

Thran was gone for some minutes, then he did return and his eyes were a bit dark and he bit his lower lip. He sat down next to Bard and sighed. "It was Judith, seems as if we have two murders today, not one. Mr Secker had a small heart drawn onto his hand with a sharpie and now they just brought in a guy from a diner, dead from anaphylactic shock caused by a capsule of peanut powder smuggled into his food by someone, the capsule did also contain a small paper heart"

Bard blinked twice. "Are you kidding me?"

Thran did shake his head. "Nope, she is sure there is a connection"

Bard leaned back and groaned, perfect, just what he needed, an interesting and challenging case and he was stuck in a bed. If there was a God out there he was sure that it did hate him, with a vengeance. "Judith has the intuition of an oracle for sure, so, what can we do?"

Thran did smile, a sort of sad grin, "Nothing, we are sick remember? Thor has got some good people out there, they will sort it out"

Bard felt a cold chill running down his spine and it didn't have anything to do with the fact that he had a fever. He should have been there, working. This wasn't going to be anything good at all, he just knew it.

The woman who sat down by the pc was in her late twenties, she was a tall and reed like one, pale and elegant and with her pixie cut and large blue eyes she did look extremely cute and young. But her eyes were dark with worry and her hands were shaking as she turned on the machine. She had just helped her husband to bed and she was very tired, the day had been very long and this was her small moment alone, her "Me" time.

The house was dark and the curtains drawn shut, few lamps were on and she sighed and tried to relax. It was very hard, she felt haunted even within her own house and she had thought about moving but they couldn't afford it and where could they go? He would find her again, no matter what she did. He was so good at it.

Her husband was paralyzed from an accident two years prior and she was his only caretaker, she had become a nurse as much as a wife but it didn't bother her that much. She did love him after all, he was her husband and she had sworn to stay by his side in sickness and in health. Their relationship had been a long one, they had met in junior high and she had always liked him in spite of the fact that he was a very nerdy and somewhat introverted guy. They were just meant to be and she didn't doubt that he was the one for her.

Too bad others didn't see it that way, her father had been a very successful businessman and had introduced her to the son of a friend of his and that guy had immediately taken a liking in her, or liking…He wasn't right in the head and when she did reject him he started to stalk her. At first it hadn't been that bad, just text messages begging her to reconsider and when she did tell him rather crassly that she had a boyfriend he turned nasty. Turin didn't accept her choice a tall since he did see Gwindor as a weakling and unworthy of her, why would she want a cripple when she could have him? When she did marry Gwindor the real problems started, she had called the cops rather often and they hadn't been able to do diddely squat.

Once she had found one of their cats decapitated on the stairs and another time somebody had shot through a window. She just knew it was him but there was no evidence and he did unfortunately have both money and influence. If the cops got anywhere near him he would lawyer up until he was untouchable and she had lived in fear for a year now. The letters had become more and more threatening and she knew that he was the type of guy to believe that if he couldn't have her nobody should.

Gwindor did of course suffer too, he wasn't able to do anything to protect her and felt guilty for holding her back. She had given up her career to be with him and he did feel that she had sacrificed too much really. She opened a tab and smiled, she was very active online, she was a social person and liked to get to know new people and she had found a forum for people like her, struggling with a relationship or being the victim of abuse. She found some strength there. There were so many like herself and online they were anonymous and could encourage each other and share survival tips.

She saw that some were active and logged inn, she did immediately see a new user, they often used icons as avatars and this one had an odd one. An A and a heart and another A, she frowned. "That is an odd icon?"

She sent the message just out of sheer curiosity and was almost shocked when an answer came immediately. "Hello, it is all in the eye of the beholder my dear, how is your day?"

She swallowed, she didn't usually start chatting with newcomers right away but she felt that she needed to share her worries and get the load of her heart. "Not too good, it is complicated but I am a bit scared"

The stranger typed back. "Oh no sweetie, have you somebody to talk to? Is there somebody there with you ? Somebody you can trust?"

She felt her throat constricting. "My husband, but he is paralyzed you see and this guy…I shouldn't be burdening someone else with my problems but..!"

The stranger sent her a beating heart emoji. "Ah dear, spill it, I am here for you, I can take it. Tell me all, let it off your chest. I guarantee, you will feel so much better!"

She did hesitate, then she did tell him or her about it all, the stalking, the threats and the fear she felt. It felt good telling about the problems and seeing the words black on white on the screen did somehow make it seem less severe, less real. The person at the other end of the line did send another heart back. "I am so sorry to hear about this sweetheart, but rest assured, there are angels watching over you. It will be okay, don't worry."

Finduilas did swallow. Angels? She wasn't religious but what the hey, to some people religion was a great comfort and she wasn't one to deny them that right. "I guess, I just hope he won't go too far. He is a madman"

The icon did blink. "Have faith, you will be protected. The angel is watching over you"

The icon did fade, the person had logged off and she frowned. Had she scared the person away? No wonder, her rantings about the stalker was perhaps not what that other human being wanted to hear. She did sigh and logged off, she was tired so perhaps it was best to find the bed, yes, tomorrow was another day.

The Bowman household was awakened by the sound of Thran's phone. The evening had been spent trying to help the kids get some sleep. Jean had been running to and fro like a squash ball and Thran had taken Bard to the sauna in the basement since the heat made it easier for him to breathe. They were frustrated since the precinct had such a very interesting case and Robert had called them about the dead janitor who had been found with his throat cut in the swimming pool of the school. There was a killer on the loose and Bard didn't want to be sick for even one more minute but what could he do? He wasn't able to leave the house and Thran was showering him with affection in an attempt to soothe his frayed nerves. Sigrid was still upset over the breakup and would throw fits which did suit a four year old way better, sometimes Bard did regret that he worked so much. He really didn't have time to keep up with the problems his kids did encounter on a daily basis, to them they were important even if they did seem benign in his eyes. Sigrid was normally a very mature girl but not when it came to the ways of the heart.

The phone was from Robert, he just wanted to keep them updated and he told that he was heading for the diner where the man had died from anaphylactic shock. Thran did end the conversation and laid back down next to Bard. Normally he would snuggle up to his husband and just enjoy the contact but right now Bard did stink of sweat and medicine. Instead he just kept stroking his hair and Bard sighed and closed his eyes. "Goddamn it, I wish there was something we could do!"

Thran shrugged. "We can use what we do know to make a profile of the killer?"

Bard rolled his eyes. "And the things we do know? Not much!"

Thran did wave a finger. "Ah-ah, we do know a lot. The killer leaves a heart with every killed person. And the people who has been killed has been very different. A known brute, a businessman and a janitor."

Bard sighed. "They have something in common in spite of this?"

Thran nodded. "Yes, I am sure of it, think of Mr Secker, he was a giant arsehole, nobody did like him. I bet this is about his less than charming way of presenting himself to the world"

Bard turned over onto his side, with some difficulty. "Alright, let us follow that idea. The killer does murder a man who is basically the incarnation of anti Christ the way I see it, a wife beater and hypocrite. Then he kills a businessman who is having lunch at a diner? Where is the connection?"

Thran did sigh. "Now, that beats me, there has to be a thing they have in common. I just hope that Robert will be able to find it."

Bard did nod and pulled the covers tighter around himself. "Right, so do I."

Robert had never visited this particular diner but he did like it the moment he did enter, it did remind him a bit of his home town where the local diner had been the place where everybody did gather. The owner did wait for him in the backroom and he did greet the elderly woman with respect. Making a living that way wasn't easy and this lady had to be really smart to be able to keep up with the fancier restaurants. "Mrs Greenvale, can you tell me anything about the deceased person?"

She did sigh and made a grimace. "Not much, but Mr Wickers was one of the regular customers, he was here almost every day and he did always order the same dish too. We do like that for it means that we can have it ready and it does free some time for the staff"

Robert did nod. "I can understand that yes, but anything else?"

Mrs Greenvale did nod slowly. "He wasn't very popular among the staff here, he was unpleasant, would grope the waitresses and use vulgar language"

Robert blinked. "Really? Was it really bad?"

Mrs Greenvale did blush. "I overheard him once, he did tell one of the girls here that he would rather eat her…you know what…than the pasta."

Robert did cringe, one of those?! He had encountered men like that, creeps. Mrs Greenvale did look thoughtful. "Some weeks ago he did cause quite a stir here though, he had invited a girl with him to the diner and apparently he had forgotten about some other invitation so there were two ladies here at once and it became quite a spectacle."

Robert felt a glimpse of interest. "Really?"

Mrs Greenvale did nod. "Yes, we almost had to call the cops, he was…I have never witnessed a more disgusting behaviour in my life Sir and I have lived for almost eighty years. He obviously believed that he could coax them both into his bed at once, and the girls left here in tears, he had insulted them terribly"

Robert did make a note of it. "Thank you Mrs Greenvale, did he ever try to become intimate with the staff, other than groping?"

The elderly lady had a sour expression on her face. "Oh yes, one of the waitresses was ambushed while in the ladies room, she got away from him simply because she is an expert kick boxer. We didn't call the cops for the guy was barely able to walk when he left here, we thought he had learned but nah., no such things. A pig will always be a pit even if you dress it up in a fancy suit"

Robert had to laugh. "Oh don't insult the pigs, they are intelligent creatures"

Mrs Greenvale did snicker. "Yes, you are right."

Robert did sigh. "You don't have any cameras here? We could perhaps see the person who did slip the capsule into Mr Wicker's pasta?!"

She shook her head. "I am sorry no such thing here, we are old fashioned I know but why have cameras in a diner? "

Robert did sigh, right, no chance there and with a room full of people it could have been anybody really.

Robert did leave the diner and he did call Thran right away, he was rather eager now. There was something they could use now, the first murder victim had been a wife beater, the second one was also a misogynistic swine and what about the janitor?

Thran was immediately on the prowl and ordered Robert to check the janitor's background and his apartment. There had to be something there. Robert did promise that he was right on it and Thran took a deep breath. He was right, his gut feeling was not lying this time and he did feel very eager now, walking back and forth to get rid of the nervous energy. Bard did complain after a while, claiming he would tear a hole through the floorboards if he didn't slow down.

They had to wait for two hours before Robert did call back and when he did Thran had a sort of pleased and yet sour expression on his face, as if he was tasting something nasty. Robert was obviously upset, his voice was shivering and since Thran had put him on loudspeaker Bard too could hear everything. "He had cameras everywhere man, in the locker rooms, in the swimming hall, in the showers. I found at least sixty Gigabyte of recordings"

Thran swallowed. "Any signs of him being more than a voyeur? "

Robert did clear his voice. "Yes, there are lots and lots of images of girls from the school, probably taken by themselves. It is…Gods Thran, it is porn, child porn. None of them are over twelve"

Thran sighed, eyes closed. "I fear that it was something like this. Anything about his past?"

Robert could be heard moving sheets of paper. "Oh yes, he was incarcerated for fifteen years, for the rape of an eleven year old girl. But he did move to another state and stole somebody else's identity. The real Jason Brown did die as an infant but the records were faulty to say the least and he probably found some loophole and managed to get the social security number activated in spite of it all"

Thran stared at Bard. "We are looking at a vigilante here, not a common murderer. "

Robert could be heard going through a door. "The apartment looks squeaky clean at first sight, nothing out of the ordinary. Until you check his hard drives that is, God, I am not easily shaken up but this…"

Thran made a grimace. "Go see our shrink alright? You need it, and I have to think about this one"

He did end the conversation and Bard did swallow hard. "Know what? Knowing what I now know about the victims I am not so sure I want the killer to be caught. I mean, they were scumbags!"

Thran nodded. "A very human reaction but the law is the law, no matter how noble it may seem. He is killing people, we cannot forget that."

Bard took a deep breath. "Right, so back to cop mode? Well then, how does he find his victims?"

Thran sat down, his head working very fast now. "Mr Secker was not trying to hide the fact that he was an abusive piece of shit. The whole city knew about him. But Mr Wickers? He wasn't a person with anything on his record at all. And the janitor did hide his tracks too"

Bard nodded. "I think we have to take a look at the one thing they all had in common, victims"

Thran did snap his fingers. "Know what? You are learning! "

Bard did blush, not only because of the fever. "I guess, so we have to start with the beginning, Mrs Secker"

Thran sort of coughed. "I bet the poor woman will be very glad to be a widow but I cannot see her having the courage to reach out to somebody, even when things were as terrible as they were. Such victims never do, they are too scared."

Bard tilted his head. "Only one way to find out, send Judith if she has the time, a woman usually makes other women open up way better than a man."

Thran grasped his phone. "I am on it"

Josh Devenue was proud of his job although he hated his employers. He did enjoy being able to wear a fancy uniform, he loved driving posh cars and he did enjoy the fat salary even more but he hated being ordered around like some imbecile. Being the chauffeur of a wealthy man brings great benefits but often his sense of duty had been challenged by his moral and ethic sense. He had been driving as the son of a bitch had more or less raped some celebrity girl in the back seat. He had been driving when shady business deals had been finished, and he had been driving when his boss visited shady clubs and homes in the middle of the night. If he hadn't been so fond of the cars he would have quit his job years ago.

But today was a quiet day, not much work and all he had to do was to polish the massive Rolls Royce which was the boss pride and joy. The car was a monster, it had been made to survive bombs and rockets and it was a beast to drive. He had to use all his skills to keep the thing on the road at times, it did require different tires but that would make riding in it unpleasant for the passenger and thus the car had tires which were too soft and often lead to it skidding. Josh was perhaps a good driver and fond of speed and power but he wasn't an idiot, trying to drift with a car like that was sheer stupidity. There are morons and then there is the force of gravity and the centrifugal force and he wasn't going to challenge either of them. He picked up the tools needed for a good polishing job and wandered down to the garage. It was well guarded with gates and everything, the cars in there were worth close to a billion dollars and there were some old cars which were priceless. They were more relics than anything else.

The rolls was placed at the back of the garage, it wasn't used that much, mostly when the Turambar's wanted to show off their wealth and he did whistle as he filled a bucket with water. The cars were like people to him, each with their own personality and each with its own quirks and oddities. The Tesla he did pass by was one example, he could have sworn that the car was possessed for each time he did overtake another car the Tesla would give just that little extra to really leave the ordinary car behind. It did like to show off, he was sure of it. And the Chayenne which was parked next to the Rolls Royce? He hated that car with a vengeance. It was powerful and fast but it would test you, you could never rest even for a second while behind its wheel. The Humvee was something else though, it was like a calm and willing work horse, you could do whatever you liked to that car and it would still try to do its very best to please you. God he loved that car!

He did drop the bucket of water and opened a bottle of car shampoo. The rolls was clean but it had to be more shiny than the arse of his boss, he did snicker at his own thoughts. The windows were tainted so nobody could peep into the car from the outside and he was about to start rubbing away at imaginary dust when he noticed something odd. Wasn't the door on the driver side probably shut? There was a light on in the cabin and he swore. Had he forgotten to close the door probably? The battery of the car was powerful, it wasn't very likely that it was dead just because of a small light but the boss was like a hawk, any mistake could be the last one you did even if it was a miniscule one. He walked around to close the door and froze, the scream was involuntary, as was the sudden explosive urge to throw up. He did rear back and fell down onto his knees, heaving. What in the name of everything holy was he about to do now?

Judith had taken some hours off from work, she was currently sitting in a living room which had to be the saddest one she had ever seen. Everything was grey and worn down and the dust was several inches thick. It did stink in there, a scent she did know as the smell of poverty and despair and the woman in front of her was no different than her home. As a coroner Judith had seen the human body in nearly every possible condition and this woman was in a bad state. The eyes were blurred and laid deep, she had dark shadows underneath them and the skin was sagging even if she wasn't that old.

Judith had kept her tone neutral and her smile was a real one, officially she was there to ask what the widow wanted when it came to the funeral and the presentation of the dead man. The face was after all more or less gone so a closed casket was probably the only sane option. Mrs Secker was not used to making decisions, that was very obvious. She was truly terrorized by her husband and even now she was afraid of him. Judith had gone through all the formalities and tried to get inn underneath the shell this poor soul had built around herself. "Mrs Secker, do you have anybody who can help you? Somebody to talk to? You need that now"

The woman did shake her head but she did move her lips and Judith tilted her head. "Yes?"

The poor soul did gasp, then she did bow forward, hiding her face behind her skinny hands. "I am gonna burn in hell, I am to blame for this!"

Judith did frown. "What do you mean?"

Mrs Secker did heave for air. "I wanted him dead, I…I wanted him to suffer."

Judith took a deep breath. "Ma'am. You wouldn't have been human if you didn't think that way, your husband was a monster. Pardon for saying it but it is the truth. Nobody, not even God would blame you for thinking that way."

The woman did wring her hands, her voice a hoarse whisper. "The angel, the angel did promise me to end my suffering, did promise that I was being protected, that it would end. I asked for it, I asked for his death"

Judith did frown. "Ah, exactly what are you talking about"

Mrs Secker did stare her straight in the eye. "The angel I spoke to at night, when my husband was asleep. "

Judith felt a chill running down her spine, was the woman insane or was this something else?

"Please, do explain Mrs Secker, I do not understand?"

Mrs Secker did pick up a cell phone, it wasn't very new but it had been an expensive one when it was. "Here, I talk. He promised to watch over me"

Judith opened her mouth and closed it again, oh God, Thran had to be told about this!

Jean had just managed to convince Bard of the wisdom of having yet another bowl of chicken soup when the phone rang yet again, this time it was Thor. Thran did listen to their boss and he went a bit pale. "Are you kidding me?"

Thor's voice was booming. "Nope, the reporters are all over it now, it is a celebrity after all. The heir of the Turambar group and a member of the jet set. I am telling you, it is as nasty as nasty gets."

Thran took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. "How did the man die?"

Thor was obviously moving about, they could hear his footprints, fast and angry. "He was strangled. The culprit had hid in the back of the car and slid a piano string over his head, it did almost cut his throat. There was a heart drawn onto the forehead with a pen. It is the same guy"

Thran tried to think. "How did the culprit enter the garage?!"

Thor opened a door. "By hacking the security system, the cameras show nothing. This person knows his technical stuff for sure. The driver did find the body, he is in shock still"

Bard did cough. "But everybody knows Mr Turambar jr, he is a playboy and a scumbag, terribly spoiled. Could this be something else?"

Thor sat down, the chair was creaking. "Hardly, the heart was the same. What are we to do now?"

Thran did think fast. "I sent Judith to talk with Mr Secker's wife, we will wait for her report, then we take it from there. It could be that she knows something"

Thor did grumble. "Alright, nobody would weep for Mr Secker but Turin was a person with influence, his father is more loaded than the bank after all. I do not doubt that Turin did have some dark secrets, the question is who knows of them and why now?"

Thran nodded to himself. "Yes, it has to mean something right? "

Bard did sneeze. "Let us hope we can figure it out"

Thor did hang up and just five minutes later Judith did call and her voice did reveal her excitement. "Guys, I have a clue. Mrs Secker was online, active on a forum for people with problems, a sort of support group"

Thran did take a deep breath. "Really? What did she say? Was somebody interested in her story?"

Judith was almost panting. "Yes, one of the members of the group, he did tell her that she was protected, that the problems would go away. She called him her angel"

Bard did fish up an Ipad. "What page is it?"

Judith did give them the name and they did enter the forum. It was indeed a support site for people struggling with all sorts of problems, most of the members were anonymous and very careful not to give out any details but there were others who obviously didn't care that much about their own privacy. Bard was typing. "She called the person her angel, it may be quite literal. "

Jean called from the living room. "Guys? The murder Thor called about, it is all over the news"

Thran did swear. "Crap, not good. If the public realize that we have a serial killer out there we could face problems."

Bard did work fast, he did create a fake profile and logged inn. Thran did hover above him. "The janitor, try to see if there is somebody out there mentioning the school."

Bard coughed and sneezed but kept working, he was a bit frantic now, like a dog with a fresh scent presented straight to his nose. "Nothing yet. There are private chatrooms, it could be one of those. I cannot enter them"

Thran was staring at the screen. "That one, it was active some days ago."

Bard frowned. "BunnyB? Why?"

Thran smiled. "The type of name a young person would choose, is it closed or can anyone access?"

Bard did enter the profile and lo and behold, there was a lot of chatting there, with several people. "It is open, even if it shouldn't have been"

Bard started to read and suddenly he froze. "Look, this is a new name, and it is odd"

Thran did lean even closer, his long silky hair did tickle Bard's skin but he would never complain. "A heart A? It could be our guy or gal"

Bard did read. "Oh my, she truly spills it here, can you read this?"

Thran did nod. "Yes, unfortunately. She is one of those the janitor did blackmail isn't she?"

Bard sighed. "Look here, "if I didn't send pictures of my pussy he would tell my parents, what was I to do?" That son of a bitch!"

Thran did rub his forehead. "What's next?"

Bard read some more. "She is promised protection, that the problems will go away"

Thran scoffed. "Yes, permanently. I just wonder what Turin did which did lead to him ending up strangled in the seat of his own car"

Bard did grasp Thran's phone. "I have to send this to Erestor, it could be that he can track the IP address and find where the angel is hiding!"

Thran shrugged. "Do not bet on it, I fear that this culprit is smarter than us."

Bard frowned. "What makes you say that?"

Thran sighed and made a grimace. "The whole thing tells me something about the person, he or she is very aggressive against abusers, so I bet the murderer was abused in the past. And the victims are from all parts of life, both rich and poor. This one is truly on a mission and takes care of the ones she or he does perceive as truly bad"

Bard sent the address to Erestor and then he sat down with the Ipad again. "The attorney , he too has had to have done something somebody in here has complained about then"

Thran nodded. "This site is the killer's hunting ground for sure, it could be that he or she uses other sites like this one too"

Bard started to search the chats for any clues and Thran sat down and tried to think, as a profiler he knew how the human mind does work and he was rather sure that this was a male, a person who had been abused in the past but he was rather sure that the abuser had gotten away and now the person was both helping others and seeking revenge on his own behalf. The viciousness of the murders did tell him that. It was all up close and personal. The culprit was probably a bit deranged, mentally disturbed and he wouldn't be surprised if the person did suffer from severe PTSD.

There was a call incoming again and it was Thor yet again. "Thran, we just got a tip. From a woman living somewhere in the suburbs. She claims that Turin did stalk her, and sent her lots of threats since she did marry somebody he saw as inferior. She did chat with somebody on a web site just yesterday and thought it could be important"

Bard looked at Thran. "Oh god, he is fast isn't he? Who is she?"

Thor did sound eager. "Finduilas Orodrethriel, and her husband is Gwindor. She says her father did introduce her to Turin and he took a liking to her, a too good liking as a matter of fact. She was hysterical but the one she did speak to had an odd icon, an A and a heart and another A"

Thran nodded, his eyes were dark. "The same person, he is indeed fast. That woman had probably suffered a lot, I don't think our little angel friend does bother with the ones who just face minor trouble."

Bard sighed and wiped his nose. "Can we hope to catch him?"

Thran shrugged. "Maybe? If we can find the IP address. But the web is enormous and the number of potential victims even greater. There is so much filth out there. If Erestor can find the computer we do have a chance though"

Bard felt a bit dizzy and did lean back. "Do you think the culprit will stop?"

Thran shook his head. "No, I don't think so. This person is on a mission, he has a purpose. We better prepare for more dead bastards!"

Bard did continue to read and about an hour later he did see a user who did complain about having been molested by a lawyer. The story was shocking and as he did read more he did realize that the poor woman was somebody who had encountered Mr Wickers. There was little doubt about it since she did reveal where the man did work and did describe him rather well too. And yet again the angel did promise an end to the problems. Thran did bite into his pen. "Damn it, the guy is almost doing us a favour, but only almost"

Bard had to grin. "You think so to? "

Thran nodded. "Yes, it is a very human way of reacting. But it doesn't make it right in any way!"

Bard just snickered. "Then we have to wait right?"

Thran nodded. "Indeed we have to wait"

The day went by, the reporters were all over the news of Mr Turambar the younger and his nasty end and somebody did in fact also manage to find the woman he had been harassing and put her house under siege until the cops showed up and shooed the reporters away.

Erestor did call back a little before midnight and he was tired, they could hear it in his voice. "I am sorry, the one behind that icon is a pro. I cannot find the computer, it is impossible"

Bard was a bit disappointed. "So there is nothing we can do?"

Erestor did sound rather annoyed. "Nope, there are more walls than I have ever encountered before and I tried to track the profile and ended up on an island in the Mediterranean. He covers his tracks well this one"

Thran made a deep sigh. "Alright. Any chance of him making a mistake?"

Erestor snorted. "A mistake?! I am a professional hacker man, and I don't have the skills this person has. It is more likely that the moon will turn out to be made from cheese. "

Bard groaned. "And no evidence found anywhere, not even a single fibre."

Thran was staring at Bard, eyes wide. "The culprit is working within law enforcement Bard, I guess he is within the FBI. He has seen how easily the bad guys get away, he is truly a vigilante"

Bard swore. "Are you sure?"

Thran did nod. "Yes, absolutely! He knows how we work, how to avoid detection, how to not leave a clue behind. Damn it"

Bard closed his eyes. "We won't solve this one?"

Thran shook his head. "No, we are fighting a ghost Bard, an angel. I fear that only time will show the truth about this one."

Bard bit his teeth together. "Thor won't like it"

Thran nodded. "Neither do I but a wise man does chose his battles and this one we will lose, I can feel it"

Bard cussed. "Alright, as long as the bad guys gets it"

Thran petted him on the head . "Yes, let us hope he doesn't stray off the narrow path"

Bard closed his eyes again. "He won't"

The next morning Jean did wake them up with fresh bread and when Thran did log into his computer he did find an email there he didn't recognize. He gaped as he opened it. The text was rather unexpected.

"Congratulations, I know you have figured me out by now, I wouldn't have expected less of you two gentlemen. I am sorry for causing you such frustration but I am not gonna allow myself to be caught. There are too many out there suffering, living in fear, risking their very lives because of those who slip through the hand of the law. So I will continue, from another page mind you but that is of course already understood. There are rotten apples out there everywhere, giving love a bad name if you catch my drift? Beating your wife and kids half to death isn't love, raping some poor girl because she "asked" for it isn't love. Torturing your own child because he or she "isn't right" isn't love.

No, I won't quit, but I won't be bothering you again, do not try to find me for that will be a waste of time and resources. Just rest assured that the creeps are getting what they deserve, one by one. And no, I do not work alone. Now you know it. We are legion, and we won't stop. May you have a long career ahead of you, both you and your husband. You are doing good work. Best of wishes. The avenging angel! "

Thran did read the mail a few times, so there were many of them, and they were determined. There was nothing he and Bard could do and although the cop in him was feeling frustrated the man in him wasn't. After all, the idea of a guardian angel out there wasn't that bad. The idea that the killer had found his email wasn't really one he did enjoy but he knew that he and his family was safe, this group didn't target the innocent nor the ones who were on their side. He knew too darn well that the cops only could do so much, and there were so many people who did need help. He would inform Thor, and Bard of course but in his eyes the investigation was over. He had a feeling that they would encounter the avenging angel again but for now the angel was flying free. He did return to Bard who was trying to convince Jean that he was ready for "real food" again, to no prevail. He did hug his husband and kissed his brow and he hoped that they would have some peaceful days ahead of them. The avenging angel had probably picked new hunting grounds, one day somebody would make a slip and then he would be there for sure but until then he would just continue to do his job, love his husband and kids and be the best man he could be.


	12. Living dead girl

Chapter 12: Living dead girl

The drive had been long, way too long. It had been Thor's idea to send the best investigators off to some police conference in a city further north and Bard and Thran had grasped the opportunity with glee, convinced that it would be a swell experience. It hadn't, it had been rather boring and also, the hotel they were to stay in was probably old when Custer took his last stand. The rooms did look like the set from a really low budget horror movie and the food had given half the assembled cops indigestion right from the start. The themes which were to be discussed and taught were interesting enough and the experts which had been brought inn were good. But the hotel did transform what could have been a very nice conference into a nightmare. Bard was happy when it was over, the auditorium where the lectures were given had been too hot, it did smell of mothballs and the chairs were made by the Marquis De Sade or someone else with the same fondness of inflicting pain onto their fellow human beings.

They were supposed to fly back, but no such luck. Instead they had to hire a car and drive all night for the airport was closed down. Apparently somebody had discovered a sink hole right underneath the one runway they had there. So now Thran was driving and Bard was dozing in the passenger seat, they had just an hour left before they were back home. They both looked forwards to returning to their home and Jean's cooking for the food at the hotel had caused them both to lose several pounds. Bard swore that he would rather eat a whole can of Swedish Surstromning than touch another one of the so called dishes they had been served back there, he swore that the steak was from cows older than himself and that the vegetables had to have been taken from fields dangerously close to the old Russian nuclear plant which went badaboom in 86. He had never seen anything which did look like those carrots, they had to be mutated.

The highway was not very packed since it was in the middle of the day but suddenly the traffic did crawl to a halt and they heard several horns honking. Bard did awaken and Thran did swear. "Ah, typical! Probably an accident"

Bard frowned. "I bet somebody has been driving too fast, or there could be some car with engine problems?"

Thran did try to look further ahead. "I doubt it, all lanes are shut down or so it seems"

They wondered what it was but the radio said little and then all of a sudden they got an explanation. Two huge cows came running down the lane between the cars and behind them was a guy on a horse swinging a lasso. "Ah…I hope it isn't one of those cattle transports which have flipped over or something?"

Thran blinked and got out of the car, he did jump up onto the concrete barrier next to the car and that gave him enough height to see. The road ahead was filled with cows, there had to be at least a hundred of them, running everywhere and there were riders and police officers and volunteers trying to get them off the main road. Bard frowned, several more animals ran by them and he saw something odd. "Thran, these are dairy cows"

Thran climbed back inside of the car. "And?"

Bard just shrugged. "They aren't sent off in such numbers, and I can see that these ladies haven't been milked for a while, did you see the udders on that last one?"

The cow had been running by and there was a trail of milk on the asphalt, showing where she had gone. "Right, what do you think have happened?"

Bard found a better position in the seat. "Some farmer must have forgotten to close the gate, cows are curious creatures"

Thran sighed. "Yeah, and they are blocking the road!"

The cowboys and the road police did run around and after a while the traffic started to move again, Thran did roll down the window as they passed by a cop sitting on an ATV, the man had cow shit all over his uniform and looked pissed off. "Excuse me, what has really happened here?"

The traffic cop rolled his eyes. "See that farm up ahead? The big red barn? Some goddamn idiots have broken into it last night, locked the farmer and his family into their storm cellar and released all the livestock, cows and calves and bulls alike. "

The cop did shake himself, he did look very uncomfortable. "We have had to shoot two cows so far, one with a broken leg and one who got her head stuck in a metal fence and tore her own throat open. And there are four breeding bulls on the run and one of them is a mean one so we have to use caution, the thing is dangerous"

Bard did shake his head. "Why would anybody want to release the cattle?"

The cop got a whiff of his own scent and turned slightly green, no doubt that he was looking forward to a bath and a change of clothes. "Animal activists. Goddamn morons! These cows will all be sent off to slaughter now, the idiots did smash the milking stall and there aren't any other dairy farms for many miles, they will get sick if they aren't milked and then there is the possibility of transferring disease too. No other farms will want to take them inn"

Bard sighed. "Oh I am glad we are investigators, we won't have to deal with that sort of stuff"

Thran nodded with a grin. "Amen to that my dear, Amen to that."

Just too bad that words sometimes can come back to haunt you…

As the two investigators did start the last leg of their journey home a stocky man dressed in overalls and a helmet did stop his truck at his next destination. Salvadore Palada was proud of his job, he didn't call himself a garbage collector, or a garbage man, he was a renovation expert and without the services of him and his colleagues the city would become one stinking infected heap of filth. He spent his days hauling other people's trash and he was as tough as they got. He had seen it all! He had picked up the trash at the local abattoir, he had removed what was left at nasty crime scenes, he had helped clean out a restaurant that had been flooded and pulled half rotted pigs out from a farm which had burned. He had seen things other people wouldn't even believe.

This was the last stop on this route, the road was a cul de sack and ended in a parking lot where they had placed several large trash container. Here he knew he would find almost anything, and he anticipated stink. The most usual objects there were used furniture, and building materials too. Then came dirty clothes, rotten food and dead animals. The containers were full, one was ready to burst with what could only be the sad remains of a couch and a bed and the other one was tipped over. That happened a lot, there were in fact black bears in the area and they were experts at finding food.

Salvadore did sigh and got out of the truck, he would have to take the container with the furniture first, it was the heaviest and then he could come back for the other one. He heard something rustling and took a deep breath. There was some sort of animal inside of the container and he grasped a baseball bat and went over. Once he had tried to get a racoon out of a dumpster only to discover that the animal was both rabid and had comrades so now he didn't go anywhere near the containers without some sort of protection. He knew of a colleague of him who had encountered a very angry black bear sow and needed both surgery and four months of physical training afterwards and Salvadore couldn't afford that.

The container did not stink too bad but there were food in there and as he did approach it a couple of rats and a very fat and overfed opossum did scurry out of it. There was still as sound coming from it, Salvadore did not hesitate. He did bend over to take a peek. He didn't have time to stand there and wait for whatever it was to leave on it's own accord. There was movement behind a huge plastic bag which did contain what he could only describe as "assorted stuff". He pulled the bag aside, then he backed off, pale and with a gasp. "Ah madre de dios!"

He had a cell phone, grasped it and dialled 911 with shivering fingers, he had seen it all, except this.

Bard and Thran had entertained the entire crew with tales of their experience, Bard had great fun explaining how one of the lecturers had explained this new forensic method. It would make it way easier to collect biological evidence and prevent contamination but it did require a lot of training and he had told everybody that the first who tried to use the device had managed to turn it on but had reversed it with the result that the material had been spread all over a room. Technology was fine when it did work and not so great when it didn't work. The two had enjoyed a nice relaxed evening at their home and Bard swore that he had eaten like a wolf, the terrible cuisine of the hotel was a mere memory now and not one he wanted to dwell upon.

This morning they had delivered their reports to Thor and they waited for their first assignment of the day. The officers were chatting about the incident on the highway the day before, apparently somebody in a Lamborghini had managed to hit a cow from the read and got his car filled with shit, and one of the bulls had chased an officer on a motorbike for four miles. Bard had to laugh thinking about it. But there were some news about another farm too, a chicken farm. They had released all the chickens there, all 33 thousands of them and burned down the barn housing them, there had also been an attack on a milk truck and an animal transport. Apparently some group had decided to take it a wee bit too far. But that wasn't their business and most of the cops there did discuss the rather nasty case they had worked on for some weeks. A man who worked at a local church had been exposed as a molester of young boys and some enraged parents had gathered and lynched the guy. The largest obstacle was that everybody said that they were the culprit and it was obvious that they had rehearsed the story together. The problem was that you couldn't just throw almost twenty people in jail for the same crime, and the evidence didn't really tell them much.

Bard was going through some of the testimonies when the phone rang and he did see that it was Judith's number. He frowned, they didn't have any murder cases there and then and she didn't usually call unless it was something serious. "Yes?"

He heard Judith breathe, she did sound as if she was having a cold. "Bard? Get down here, and bring Thran. We have a case!"

She just ended the call and Bard felt a cold shiver running down his spine. "Thran, it was Judith, apparently she has something for us"

Thran got up and he did look puzzled and Bard did open the door and they descended towards the realm of the coroner, like many times before. The rooms were sterile and cold as usual and the odd scent there did send Bards stomach churning as normal. He knew what these rooms had seen. Judith stood by an autopsy table, she had been crying. Bard stopped, Judith did never cry, it was…inconceivable. She did look down, choked a sob and Thran blinked. "Judith?! What is wrong?"

She gasped for air. "Thran…I…This…"

There was a body on the table, covered with cloth. A very small body…Bard felt his heart sinking. "Oh no!"

She managed to pull herself together. "Yesterday 911 got a call from a trash collector, he had found a child in a garbage container. She was alive but just barely and this morning she did pass away at the hospital. In such cases an autopsy is required, and…"

She turned around and keened, Thran ran over and embraced her and she was shaking. "I have seen abuse Thran, but never…Oh God, this is…"

Bard tried to think. "Judith, what happened to this child?"

Judith did hide her face against Thran's chest. "The child is white, Caucasian. She is approximately three years of age but the size of a seven month old infant. The child is emaciated, has several bruises and old fractures and…"

She let out a wail. "The cause of death is whooping cough, the lungs have simply…ruptured"

Bard stared. "Are you serious?!"

Judith did pull the sheet away from the body and Bard thought he heard himself cry out but he didn't, there was no sound except from the roar in his head. The dead body did look like the images he had seen from severe famines in Africa, the body was just skin and bones and a huge belly. There were bruises many places on the arms and legs and one arm had an odd angle from the elbow. Bard felt the taste of bile in his mouth.

Judith did whimper. "This child was suffering from possibly every deficiency I have ever come across, the blood showed a huge lack of vitamins and minerals and that to a degree where she had both Beri Beri and Scurvy."

Thran did gape. "You have got to be kidding me? Scurvy?"

Bard swallowed hard. "Isn't that the disease that sailors could get back in the days?"

Judith did cover the body again, hands shaking. "Yes, acute lack of vitamin C but she did lack both vitamin D and B too, and almost all the others too. She was starved guys, severely"

Thran did frown. "Whooping cough? Isn't that disease gone?"

Judith did sneer. "No, it is on the rise again. Thanks to the goddamn morons who does believe that vaccines cause autism. I would rather have a kid with severe autism than a kid who has to go through this, it is a ghastly disease but so many believe that it is no big deal. It is just a "children's disease". Well, the reason why they are called just that is that they used to kill children and they will again, if nothing is done! And the bullshit about the vaccines, there have been people with autism before too, just as many as today but we are better at giving diagnoses, earlier they were "retards" or "special" But thanks to one greedy bastard kids are dying yet again, of things which are preventable"

Bard nodded. "I remember when I was a kid, two in my class did go blind from measles!"

Judith nodded, her eyes dark. "Yes, people forget within a couple of decades, it is horrible."

She tried to embrace herself. "I have checked the kid's stomach, it did contain nothing but half digested beets, kale and salad."

Thran was struggling to remain calm. "Please tell me that you have found something which can identify this child? The one who did this to her ought to be thrown in jail and the key tossed into the pacific."

Judith sighed. "Nothing, the only thing she wore was a diaper, a fabric diaper"

Thran did turn around. "Those are rare these days, most use disposable diapers."

Judith made a grimace. "Yes, and the thing was not clean and must have chaffed a lot. I think the fabric must have been hand woven, it was very rough"

Thran stared at the covered body. "We will find the guilty one, believe me. This has top priority"

Judith sighed, her face grey. "I am sorry, I shouldn't have been so emotional but…whooping cough! Having to gasp for a small breath of air whilst between coughing fits, not being able to swallow, to move or even speak because you cough and cough and cannot stop. It is the devils disease for sure"

Bard nodded. "Where was she found?"

Judith pulled out a map. "Here, in one of the suburbs, in a parking lot. Thrown away like trash!"

Bard took a deep breath. "We will check the neighbourhood, somebody could have seen something"

Judith did look very tired. "I wouldn't count on it, these are middle class neighbourhoods, the façade has to stay intact no matter what. A murdered kid could send the value of the properties plummeting and we wouldn't want that now do we?"

Her voice was dripping with sarcasm and Bard took a deep breath. "We will go and tell Thor, make a report, and make it…compelling"

Judith did smile, a very grey and tired smile. "That will not be hard, it would be impossible not to. Good luck guys"

Thran did hug her again and they did walk up the stairs, Bard felt deeply disgusted, and shocked and Thran was almost shaking. They would have to maintain professional but in such cases that was very hard. Bard remembered a case some years ago, some guy had walked into an E.R with a dead infant stuck to his crotch and the security guy had almost killed him on the spot. Nobody did blame him though, the man had practically sodomized the kid to death. This was such a case, losing it did only prove that you were human.

Thor did react just as they had anticipated, with deep disgust. He was almost on the verge of exploding and the two of them were promptly put on the case, top priority. Thran was rather quiet as they ran down to the garage, it was obvious that this had affected him. Bard knew better than to ask questions though, he knew his husband and Thran would tell when he was good and ready. The neighbourhood where the toddler had been found was a good drive away and Bard did drive, he was concentrating on the road and Thran was mumbling to himself, he did sound as if he was very angry. Bard didn't say anything and the tall blonde did let out a huge sigh and made a sort of vague gesture. "I have seen people abuse their kids many times, don't get me wrong. I have seen sadism and neglect you wouldn't believe but this…"

He crossed his arms in front of his chest and his eyes did shoot fire. "It makes my stomach cringe"

Bard nodded and kept his eyes on the road, it was early in the day and many kids were out there on the way to school. "I see?"

Thran took a deep breath. "Listen, the kid had been fed, but kale and salad? And probably no vaccines? That tells me a lot about the parents already"

Bard did never quit wondering how Thran could be so good at guessing the nature of a crime based upon just a few facts but it had to be that he knew all there is to know about human nature. "Do tell"

Thran stared out of the window, his face very stern. "I am rather sure that we will find somebody who is convinced that they are right, that they are doing the good things. I think that we can establish that the ones behind this is of poor education and low status and also that they can be rather young"

Bard did frown. "What makes you say that?"

Thran took a deep breath. "They are too young to remember when things like measles and mumps did wreak havoc upon children, it takes just two generations for such horrors to be completely forgotten. And kale and salad? It isn't normal food for kids at all"

Bard remembered how hard it was to make his kids eat their vegetables when they were younger and had to nod. "Yeah, salad isn't too bad but kale? No way"

Thran made a grimace. "So I think we are looking at parents who are onto the whole "healthy living" craze but have taken it way too far."

Bard just sighed. "That is an understatement, the kid was malnourished damn it, it did look like a survivor from a KZ camp."

Thran shrugged. "Not everybody does understand what a body truly needs, I heard about this paediatrician who received a kid who was completely lethargic and the parents had no idea of why, they did feed him healthy stuff. Turned out they only gave him light produce without any sugar in it and no fat. That would be like trying to make your diesel driven car run on water"

Bard nodded and turned a corner. "We are here Thran, keep your eyes open"

The street was a very nice one, with identical houses on each side and well mowed lawns and Bard felt a shudder running down his spine. This was the sort of street where all sorts of unholy things could happen, hidden behind the shiny façade. The more perfect everything appeared to be, the more filth was festering behind it. They reached the parking lot and did exit the car, the containers were not removed since the police was involved and Bard put on gloves and stared into the one where the child had been found. It did contain some bags with trash, a broken stove and what could only be an old divan which did stink intensely of cat urine. The bag the kid had been found underneath was laid on the side, it was ordinary household trash and Bard made a grimace. "No chance of fingerprints ha?"

Thran did shake his head. "Not very likely no"

They stood there trying to get a view of the scene when a woman walked up towards them, she did appear to be angry and she had a kid in tow behind her, the kid was probably about five years of age and on the verge of becoming rather overweight and he was pouting and did look as if he's rather be somewhere else. The woman did stop and she pushed her lower jaw forth. "Are you from the sanitation department? This is a disgrace, the trash man didn't come for them containers and they are a hazard to our health. They stink, and they do attract rats!"

Thran did smile, he didn't like her tone and he fished out his police badge. "Sorry ma'am, these containers will stay until further notice. An abandoned toddler was found in one of them yesterday, it is a murder investigation"

The woman went pale as a clean sheet of paper. "A murder?! Oh my…It won't be in the papers now will it?"

Bard stared at Thran and Thran stared back, they were right. Here the property value was more treasured than human lives. Bard couldn't help it, he put on his most sympathetic expression. "I am sorry ma'am, but it probably will, rather soon. Both papers and TV, the media will descend upon this like vultures I fear so expect an invasion. The child found was starved to death, you shouldn't have happened to see something suspicious around here the night before yesterday?"

The woman did blink, her eyes huge and the kid did pull at her hand, looking annoyed. "No, nothing happens here. We are decent people, all of us are!"

Thran knew the art of talking to people, he did smile, a very understanding smile. "I am sure you are Ma'am, but there is always that one person you know? I bet there is one here too, somebody who may have been up late at night? "

She took a deep breath. "Try the couple in that house over there, they are…not like us"

The house did look exactly like the others there and Bard did raise an eyebrow. "How come if I may ask?"

The woman scoffed. "They are pagan! What do you expect from somebody like that? I bet they are worshiping satan!"

Bard did sigh and fought the urge to roll his eyes and Thran did grin again but there was a hint of steel in the blue eyes. "Thank you for the information Ma'am, we will see if they are at home"

He did send her a polite nod and the two of them walked over to the house, the lights were on so there had to be somebody there and Bard did knock on the door. They heard a dog bark and then the door opened. The woman who opened the door was in her late forties and rather attractive, she was wearing an ordinary blouse and blue jeans and yet she managed to look radiant. Bard did show his badge and tried to look non threatening. "Ma'am, we wondered if you perhaps had noticed anything odd the night before yesterday? A toddler was found abandoned in the trash container"

The woman sent them a tired smile. "I do actually think that I did, do come inn. The neighbours do already have enough to gossip about when it comes to me and my husband"

She opened the door and they saw a rather large dog which did sit obediently by the door, it was wagging its tail and Thran did smile and let it sniff his hand. "What a beautiful dog"

She sent him a genuine smile. "Yes, Silly is a nice one, the gods only knows what breeds are in him but he is a very good dog. Not a mean bone in his body"

Bard did almost gape. "Silly?!"

The woman nodded. "Yes, he got the name from the previous owner, a bastard who never should have been allowed to have animals. He treated his dogs like trash but we did adopt Silly when the animal police raided the property."

They entered a living room which was very tasteful and Bard could see that these people had money, they weren't flashing them but everything was top quality. "So Mrs…?"

She sat down in a couch and they sat down too, the chairs were soft and deep and very comfortable. "I am Tina Fjell, my husband is Norwegian, he works for one of the huge computer companies, writes code"

Bard tried to twist his tongue around the name. "And you are working too?"

She nodded and petted the dog which came walking over. "Yes, I am a lawyer. That is why we are still living here, the neighbours know better than to try and freeze us out"

Thranduil did made a grimace. "I sort of understand that, we spoke to a woman on the outside, with a kid in tow. She seemed to believe that you were hellspawn"

Tina did laugh out loud. "Oh Mrs Somersby, she is a piece of work that one. Her firm belief is that a woman's duty is to be a broodmare and keep her husband's house squeaky clean and if she has a tiny affair with the neighbours every now and then that is just her right. She is the most hypocritical person I have ever met. If you have married well you won't have to do a single thing for the rest of your life, just sit there and let your husband pay, she belongs in a different century for sure. "

Tina stretched her long legs. "I earn my own money, we share the work in the house and Jørn does respect my career and my ideas, she is so envious she is foaming at the mouth"

Bard had to laugh. "So, you said you had noticed something odd?"

She nodded and made a grimace. "You see, I don't sleep very well, I tend to spend the nights awake and sleep for a while each day before I go to work, I do a lot of my work from here. That night I was working on some papers for a case I am preparing and I heard something odd. It was a truck but it didn't sound too good"

Thran did frown. "What do you mean?"

She shrugged. "I am no car expert but the truck did sound as if it was about to die! The engine was really struggling, like it had the wrong fuel or something. And it did stink!"

She pointed at the windows. "I have the windows open almost every evening, there is always a breeze when the sun sets and it cools the house down. And that car did smell like…it did smell like a fire in a fast food restaurant"

Thran snapped his fingers. "A car which has been fuelled with vegetable oil, and not adjusted for it at all"

She tilted her head. "Yes, I would think so, I didn't see much of it but I saw that it was very old and red and I think the first two letters on the license plate were B and V."

Thran did send her a sparkling smile. "Know what, that is very helpful. Thank you so much"

Tina did tilt her head. "I am very glad to be of help, rumours have spread all over the neighbourhood since yesterday, the most persistent one is that I and Jørn have a hidden cellar with starving children we use in demonic rituals."

Thran made a grimace and Bard did look as if he had tasted something very sour. "Why am I not surprised?"

Tina had a very devious expression on her face. "The truth is that they all have huge skeletons in their closets, the leader of the country club is screwing the local priest and the most religious and pious family here are in secret swingers and enjoy a little bdsm on the side"

She smiled sweetly. "I may be worshiping the ancient gods of Jørn's homeland but at least they know truth from lies and honourable conduct from the opposite."

Thran got up. "I bet"

They did bid her farewell and Bard stared at Thran. "So, where to next?"

Thran made a grimace. "The hospital, it could be that the staff there did notice something worth investigating"

They drove to the hospital rather slowly, the lunch rush had set inn and the streets were packed. The city hadn't been designed for this much traffic and now people did pay the price, there wasn't really much anybody could do about it, there wasn't enough room for more roads, simple as that.

They did arrive at the hospital and entered through the main entrance. Thran did show the clerk at the reception his badge and explained their mission and the woman did smile and sent them up to the children's ward. The nurses and the doctor who had worked on the toddler were there today and the two investigators did find the right rooms right away. The clerk had called and told the department that they were coming and the nurses and the doctor had already gathered when they arrived.

The doctor who had been in charge of the toddler was a tall skinny woman with rough grey hair and a bit of a moustache, she did look like a real dragon and Thran could see that the others there did show her a great deal of respect. She did cross her arms over her chest and tilted her head, staring at the two cops. "I am Dr Silverman, I was in charge of the child. What is it you need to know?"

Bard saw that this woman was used to being in charge and she was probably very good at her job. She stared straight at them and Thran did clear his voice. "Anything you can think of, anything which can be of help. We do really need to find the person responsible for this"

She nodded. "Indeed, we see a lot here, sometimes it is caused by sheer malice, sometimes by a lack of knowledge and other times it is caused by a lack of indifference you may say. This case was all of the three and then some. Do follow me"

She waved her hands at two nurses and they went to a treatment room where the bed was empty but it was very clear that nothing had been removed since the child died. "We did all we could but she was just too weak, the body gave up"

Thran sighed. "I see, she was just skin and bones"

The doctor had a very stiff expression on her face. "Yes, and she had been abused, in many manners"

Bard felt a bit sick. "Ah, do you mean that…"

The doctor nodded. "Yes, the child had been sexually molested as well, she had injuries which did indicate both vaginal and anal penetration. And it had happened quite recently too but there weren't any residue there. I would have loved to get a DNA sample and watch the bastard fry!"

Bard was a bit green. The doctor did stare at him. "You have children?"

Bard did nod and the doctor sent him a swift but very narrow grin. "We like to believe that children are precious to us all and that everybody wants to protect them but unfortunately the world is a ghastly place"

Thran nodded. "I agree to that one"

The doctor sighed. "The paramedics brought her inn about a quarter after ten in the morning, she was already dying but we tried to wake her up, to see if we could make her speak. Unfortunately she did pass before that was possible."

Thran did stare at the room. "Was there anything about her which you did notice?"

One of the nurses did nod. "Yes, a smell. She did smell of burned cooking oil, and something else too, I am not sure what it was but…"

The other nurse did break into the conversation. "I know, I recognized it after some thinking. She did smell of old fashioned coughing syrup"

The other nurse frowned and then she did nod. "You are right, it was old medicine. The type nobody uses anymore, probably home made"

The doctor did sigh. "Some people do still use the old recipes for such remedies, a few of them are not too bad but most do more harm than good. It would sure as hell not help against the whooping cough"

Bard was making notes. "What sort of medicine are we speaking about?"

The doctor made a grimace. "An unholy concoction of moonshine, root of anis, camphor oil and whatever else they have which has a strong smell. I wouldn't go near it with a ten foot pole."

Thran did shudder "A hellish combination for sure. Anything else?"

The doctor did shake her head and she did look sad. "I am sorry, that was all. We were too busy trying to save her to really notice details. But do catch whoever it was who did this to her? This little angel is at peace now with the lord but I fear it may happen to more if the culprit isn't stopped"

Bard nodded. "We will do our outmost"

They were heading towards the door when they heard an alarm go off and the doctor did rush by them, holding a small electronic device. "I am sorry, I have to go, they have gotten an underage girl at the E.R, pregnant"

They did follow the doctor downstairs and Bard and Thran did stop, staring in disbelief at the scene in front of them. It was indeed a girl, she couldn't be a day over twelve but she was clearly pregnant and her belly was almost grotesque on the childlike body. She was screaming and convulsing, her eyes rolling and her body covered with sweat. She wore only a very worn white nightdress and her hair was long and filthy. Bard did notice that she did miss most of her front teeth, he did feel sick. But the worst thing was that she was skinny, she did look like a poster child for anorexia and there were dark bruises all over the body. An ambulance worker stood there looking shocked. "I was pulling into the driveway to deliver a patient and there she was, on the ground, shrieking like a banshee and writhing like an eel"

The doctor was shouting orders, the girl was laid on a gurney and strapped down and nurses were running all around with all sorts of devices. Thran was pale. "Bard?"

The dark haired investigator didn't take her eyes off the girl, "Yes?"

Thran did wet his lips. "Feel the smell?"

Bard did sniff and his eyes got huge. "Oh fuck…burned cooking oil!"

Thran did yell to the doctor. "Whatever happens, do not let this one die, she may come from the same place as the toddler!"

The doctor was almost panting, trying to get a reading out of the different devises which had been hooked up to the girl. "No shit, but it may be a tough call, she is high on something, and her blood pressure is through the roof!"

Thran did step back to let the health workers do their job and Bard did turn to the ambulance worker. "Did you see anything odd on the way here?"

The worker did shrug. "Only an old truck, red. It did reek and oozed more smoke than a steam ship. It had an odd licence plate though, BVEGAN."

Thran stared at Bard, they both swallowed "YES! There we have it, that can be traced."

Bard ran outside to make a call to the office and Thran did stare at the doctors and the nurses struggling to save that girl. The action he did see was frantic but there was some sort of order to it yet. Nobody got in the way of the others, the orders were short and exact and everybody knew exactly what to do at any given time. He had such respect for these people, they were truly experts. He did wait outside of the trauma bay and Bard returned, his eyes were shining. "We have a match on the license plate, it is a truck owned by a farming collective over in the next county. I have spoken to the local sheriff and he was almost begging me to come over, apparently he want's nothing more than to get rid of those people but he haven't had a cause for any charges or arrests, yet!"

Thran got an expression upon his face which was best compared to that of a hungry wolf which has spotted a deer with four broken legs. "That is wonderful, what did Thor say?"

Bard almost sneered. "He is gathering the SWAT teams right now, we will have all the manpower we want, and he has got the FBI on hold too. Just in case"

Thran took a deep breath. "Good, very good!"

After about twenty minutes the doctor did leave the trauma bay, she was sweaty and her eyes rather dark. "She will live, but I am not so sure that she will be a good witness"

Thran did frown. "How come?"

The doctor did look down. "According to the lab tests she has taken some sort of drug, and it has probably cooked her brains. She is alive but…what can I say, the lights are on but there is nobody at home anymore"

Thran did swear and Bard moaned. "She is a vegetable?"

The doctor nodded. "Yes, more or less. But I can tell you that she has the same problems as the toddler, a lack of vitamins and minerals and also, she has been abused too. I think the drug she has taken has been a desperate attempt at aborting her baby. Or maybe somebody has tried to actually kill her by making it look like a failed abortion, it wouldn't surprise me."

Thran nodded slowly. "What about the baby? Will it be able to live?"

The doctor made a grim face, she did pull her gloves off. "No, it is dying. We are going to do an emergency C-Section to save the girl. The baby is probably eight months old and should be able to live but judging by the ultrasound it has huge deformities. It cannot live. I am very sorry"

Bard swallowed hard. "Due to malnutrition?"

The doctor shrugged. "Yes, and drugs, probably home made ones."

Thran bared his teeth. "If it is any comfort we may have a clue as to where she came from, we are going there and if we do find whoever treated her and the toddler thus there will be hell to pay!"

Doctor Silverman stared him straight in the eye. "Our oath asks of us to never do any harm but it doesn't say anything about asking others to do some harm on our behalf. "

Thran grinned. "I get it, harm will be done!"

She just nodded sternly and returned to her patient and Bard stared at Thran. "Now what?"

Thran turned on his heel. "Back to the office for some debriefing and then we will visit that collective, and it will not be a friendly little chat"

Bard had never heard Thran sounding that harsh before, there was a growl in his voice and a coldness in his eyes which was rather unnerving to witness.

Back at the office there were several officers gathering, all were preparing and Thor did walk up to the two. "I have spoken to Sheriff Krystov, he does need more men for he does have only one deputy, a kid of nineteen. You are expected"

Thran found his gun and Bard got some bullet proof wests for them both, they put them on under their jackets and Thor did give them both a strict glance. "Get back here in one piece, but get those who did this to those kids."

Bard managed to smile. "We will"

Thran did drive this time, they used one of the best cruisers and two of the other officers there did join them. There were two cruisers and two huge vans with a SWAT team on their way and nobody said much on the way. They were too busy trying to focus.

The sheriff's office laid on the mainstreet of the small town, it was surrounded by fields and it had a population of just a couple of thousand people. It was your average middle sized rural settlement with shops and a school and a couple of churches. The office was not very different from other similar places, a few cells and an interrogation room. The back room was shared with the local funeral business and Thran did suspect that the local coroner also was the local undertaker. It was rather normal. The sheriff was a small lean guy in his late thirties, he did wear the uniform with pride and he had an impressive moustache and sharp piercing eyes. He did shake their hands, vigorously. "Welcome gentlemen, it is a pleasure having you here."

Bard and Thran did present themselves and the sheriff did sit down and took a deep breath. "I must say that I have been waiting for this, for years now"

Thran did lean back against his chair. "Do explain?"

The sheriff did nod. "I will, but let me first introduce you to a special person."

He did call out and a young woman did enter the room, she was perhaps in her mid twenties and rather pretty but there was something almost skittish about her and she was rather thin. She sent the two a shy smile. The sheriff did smile, his voice soft and soothing. "Do not worry Rhea, these men will help us"

He stared at Thran. "This is Rhea Peters, she used to be one of them but she got away. My wife and I decided to help her return to society, or at least give her a decent life."

Bard had to blink. "Are we talking about a sect?"

Sheriff Krystov made a sort of barking sound. "Not in the fashion most people think of sects but yes, you can call it that. It isn't a belief in God which control these people though, it is a belief in a man who is so twisted I have problems describing it"

Thran crossed his long legs. "Try us"

The sheriff got up, ran his hands through his short stiff hair. "Ah, where do I start?"

Bard cocked his head. "With the beginning?"

The sheriff smiled. "Yes, of course, the beginning. It began as far back as in 75, a man from Detroit came over and bought a farm here, it was rather large and a good property and he did start growing vegetables and he was good at it too. I can still remember them berries he did grow, they were so sweet they melted on your tongue. He did run the farm until 88, then his son took over and he expanded the production, they added fruits and almonds and such to the produce they made and it was a success too. But then he fell ill and a friend of him came to help him and that friend brought other friends and before you knew it more than fifty people lived on the farm and worked there"

Thran frowned. "And?"

The man looked at the wall, his eyes distant. "It wasn't a bad thing at all, they were alright, honest hard working people all of them, never any trouble with any of them. They preferred a simple rural way of life and there is nothing wrong with that, most were god fearing and decent and they became a beloved part of the community."

Bard leaned forth. "What happened?"

The sheriff did shrug. "What happens to everybody, they got old and the owner did die from a heart attack. But the farm was bought by another group and dear lord above, they were different. It was in 2005 I think, and we all thought that these people were escapees from some mental asylum"

Rhea did giggle and Bard did realize that the girl was suffering from some sort of diagnosis. She wasn't normal. "Really?"

The sheriff sighed. "They wouldn't touch meat, they wouldn't use fertilizer or herbicides and the yields dropped year by year. That farm was excellently run before, now it is barely able to produce food at all. And that wasn't all, they refused medical help because they wouldn't touch anything artificial. They still believe that. No vaccines, no birth control, no modern produce at all. I would have kicked them out if I had found some law which does allow me to do it but no, they hide themselves behind their "rights" and keep going. The place has become a pig sty, without pigs mind you. Keeping animals "prisoner" is supposedly a huge sin in their eyes. The group which did live there before were also vegetarians and vegans but they still had a brain and they knew that they needed to add stuff to their food in order to stay healthy, these idiots don't. It is a miracle they are alive at all."

Thran was intense. "You say that they are a collective, almost a sect, sects do usually follow a leader?"

The sheriff did look as if he had bitten into something rotten. "Yes, there is a leader, a son of a goddamn bitch. His name is Steve Baker, and he is holding everybody in an iron grip. I happen to know that he has the right to have sex with everybody within the group, even the kids but I haven't been able to confirm it officially even though everybody here knows of it. The women there has to bear him a child first to prove that they are "worthy" of becoming brood mares for the colony."

Bard felt ready to puke and Thran was dark eyed and a bit pale. "Do they have guns?"

The sheriff made an odd grimace. "No, thank goodness for that, for they do not believe in anything artificial and a gun is working due to a chemical reaction. They have bows and arrows, and rocks. That bastard is very smart, if we believed that they had guns the FBI would be all over the place years ago, as it is they are regarded as "harmless" and left alone."

He did pet Rhea on her shoulder, very gently. "Little Rhea here escaped with her life but not her sanity, she is mute. Her IQ lower than that of an infant, it is in the range where she is barely able to operate doors and such. It was due to starvation, and shaken baby syndrome"

Thran did look aghast and now they understood the sort of blank expression within the girl's eyes, she would never become a true adult. She was a child, trapped in an adult body. Thran took a deep breath. "You are the boss here, we have strong evidence that the dead toddler and the pregnant girl came from here, somebody did dump them both."

The sheriff did squint. "Greg, I have no idea of what his last name is, or if he even has one. He is a sort of "do it all" worker, and believe me, even though he is far from the sharpest tool in the shed there isn't a person alive more kind hearted than him. Too bad he is terrified of Steve, he will do everything that man asks of him, even hide murder and abuse."

Bard did look intrigued. "Really?"

The sheriff sighed. "He is in his sixties, and he has Downs syndrome. He has a driver's license for my predecessor was a bit too kind at times but Greg is actually able to drive rather well, at least at night when there isn't that much traffic. He used to work on the farm and he has sort of being inherited by the different owners."

Bard had to blink. "Poor soul"

The sheriff took a deep breath. "He is not to be blamed, he is not able to say no. I think that they are abusing him rather badly and he is terrified. I have tried to talk to him but it is no use. He just keeps claiming that everybody is so nice to him and that things are fine"

Thran did touch his holster. "So, what are we to do?"

The sheriff bit his lower lip. "We go in there after sunset. The members of the collective does live in the old barn, some of the locals have been there pretending to buy vegetables and they say that it is like watching a scene from a WW2 documentary. They aren't allowed to have any personal belongings and they all sleep in the same room, except the leader of course. He has the main building all to himself"

Bard took a deep breath. "Alright, will people try to resist?"

The sheriff almost rolled his eyes. "As if they are able to? One of the shop owners here sell dog food, including flour made from ground up bones and dried fish, it is excellent for the dogs. He found one of the kids from the collective eating flour some months ago, poor thing was stuffing himself and almost choking but kept eating it. The shop owner gave him a bowl of the stuff and the kid poured water in it and ate it as porridge. I have no idea of how hungry you have to be to be able to eat that stuff but I pray to God that I never will experience such hunger"

Thran did shudder and Bard closed his eyes. Rhea went over to a table and got back with a map, it was a rough map of the farm and the sheriff did smile at her, a very soothing gentle smile. "Good girl Rhea, now, go back to mom and help her prepare dinner alright?"

She did smile and nod and the sheriff laid the map out. "We spread out, I suggest that the SWAT guys go for the barn, there are at least eighty adults there and I think that there are between fifteen and twenty two kids there of different ages!"

Thran almost growled. "How are the kids treated?"

The sheriff did snort. "How do you think? They are work force, labourers. They aren't allowed any education for they may learn "impure thoughts" and I know for a fact that quite a few of them are without a proper name."

Thran did shake his head. "A sect, most definitely a sect."

The sheriff did make a sort of a grin. "You know, we have Amish people in this county, a few families. They are nuts in their own manner but at least they have something real to base it upon. They follow their interpretation of the holy scripture but that collective? Their only God is their leader and whatever nonsense he manages to spew out of him. He does believe in chem-trails, that the earth is flat, that global warming is nothing but a hoax and that the US government wants to enslave everybody by sending hidden messages through radio and TV. He is a fruitcake!"

Thran nodded. "We shrinks have a word for those. –Scrambled eggs for brains- It sounds as if he truly is far out there"

The sheriff almost sneered. "The worst thing is that he isn't mad, I bet he is saying all this to keep his "herd" under control. They bow to his word for I bet many of them have been losers their entire life and when somebody does say that he can show them the way to a better life they grasp on, hook line and sinker"

He got up and his face became stern. "Want to prepare? We have a drive of at least half an hour ahead of us and it takes time spreading out too. I wanna warn you guys, some of the ladies out there are like wildcats. They are convinced that he is the second coming or something akin to that"

Bard nodded. "Right, let us get going. I want to see that creep squirm"

The SWAT guys were ready, the deputy had prepared them and the sheriff drove with Thran and Bard, he did take some rather horrible side roads where the car behaved like it was trying to imitate a roller coaster. "Tractor roads, if we use the main roads we may get spotted"

They did stop in the end by a small river, a line of trees did shield the vehicles from sight and the area did look very idyllic but Bard could clearly see that something was wrong. The fields did look terrible, the vegetables were small and on the verge of dying and the sheriff made a sour grin. "He haven't used any money on the equipment, the first owner had a good watering system, it was able to provide all the fields with enough water but now it is no longer working and this is the result."

He did bow down and pulled up a shrivelled thing which could have been a carrot. Thran did make a grimace, if this was what everybody there ate it was no wonder that toddler and the girl did look like they were anorexic. The sun was setting and they went over the plans as they waited for darkness, the sheriff was rather confident and Thran and Bard did listen intently as he described the layout of the farm yet again.

The warm air was rising off the fields as they walked slowly towards the farm buildings, the sheriff was whispering. "He has some guys who are in better shape than the others, his soldiers if you can use that word. They are sent out to spread the message, they are probably the ones who did release all those cows two days ago, and they have lead other groups like them in attacks against everything from labs to race tracks. They are fanatics"

Bard just growled. "Fantastic!"

The farm was quiet, it was an eerie silence for normally a place like this was teeming with life, livestock, people, machines. They did pass by a field with what had to be cabbages and one of the SWAT guys did make a gesture, he did point towards an area where the soil had been disturbed recently, in several square shaped indentations. Bard swallowed hard. "Don't tell me…"

The sheriff did swear. "Graves, we will investigate later"

The group spread out, everybody had been given communications equipment and silent signals flew through the air. The sheriff, Thran Bard and two of the SWAT members did head up to the main building. The lights were out for there weren't any electricity there and the solar panels had probably died years ago judging by the looks of them, but there were a few which did look suspiciously new and well maintained.

The entrance was open, and the house they did slowly enter was surprisingly clean and tidy. It was a typical farmhouse with a huge kitchen and a living room and the bedrooms were on the second floor. The sheriff was moving the same way as the two SWAT guys, he had to have been in the army at some time and he gave short and precise orders. Thran heard a voice in his com device. "In position"

The sheriff answered. "Hold"

They did sneak their way upstairs and was shocked to find rooms which were surprisingly luxurious, the only thing missing was electrical devises but there were lovely furniture, good ovens and everything else you could possibly need.

The sheriff did stop in front of the master bedroom, the door was slightly ajar and he nodded at the two SWAT guys. "GO!"

They all burst through the door, guns drawn and Bard gaped. There was a bed in the middle of the room, it was huge and in it was at least three women and a guy who had seen better days. He was half bald, wearing a saggy pair of boxers and socks and if the girl and the kid had been emaciated he was the opposite. They heard screams coming from the outside and also a couple of shots and the leader of the cult did stare with huge eyes at the attackers. The sheriff did grin, a very wide and vicious smile which didn't reach his eyes. "Howdy there, we have reason to believe that you and your herd are guilty of child abuse."

The man got up, hands in the air and his face was red. The women did curl up behind him, all three were naked and rather skinny and Bard was rather sure that neither of them were old enough to have sex legally. "You have no evidence! I have the law on my side, you cannot break my rights"

The sheriff did dangle a pair of handcuffs from his fingers. "Oh? A toddler was left in a garbage dump and died of whooping cough and starvation and this very morning a pregnant underage girl was dumped at the E.R in the city. They both come from here or else you can call me a jackelope and tie a cowtail around my neck"

The man went pale, then he went red again. "That goddamn mongoloid…I told him to…"

Thran was smiling, a very slow and pleased smile. "You told him to do what? Get rid of them?"

The man did close his mouth, his eyes were bulging and the cuffs were applied, not too gently. The SWAT soldiers did open one of the closets at the back of the room and waved his hands. "Look what privileges being a leader bring"

Thran and Bard did stare past the man, the closet was in fact a huge room, and it was equipped with both a fridge and other modern stuff. There were enough food in there to feed an army, and none of it was vegan alright. It was bottles of whiskey, wine and ale, huge cans of spam and corned beef. He had stacks of candy and chips and chocolate and the girls did make some odd sounds and ran past the soldier like they were mad. They did attack a box of snickers bars like lions tearing into the condemned at the Colosseum. They were obviously starved half to death.

The sheriff did look as if he was about to blow a fuse or two, there was a balcony there and he opened the door and forced the man out on it. "Now Steve, let us see what your congregation does think of their oh so great and pure leader after this"

The entire group was gathered underneath the balcony, most were dressed in what could only be described as dirty and worn robes and everybody were thin and covered with dirt. Some were obviously sick and a few had to be held up by others since they couldn't stand on their own feet. The soldiers did keep them under control, even a group of huge burly guys who did look as if they had been given enough to eat. The sheriff did grasp the great Steve by his neck and pushed him to the edge of the balcony. "Your leader has forced you to starve, to live in absolute misery"

Steve tried to protest. "I have just tried to protect them, from unclean living. From the torture of innocent animals and the abuse of our mother earth. We are clean, we cannot get ill, if our bodies are protected from pollution we will live forever!"

The sheriff smiled, a very nasty smile. "Oh really? Did that toddler live forever? What about the girl who is on the verge of dying in a hospital bed? She is a child, and somebody had knocked her up, that is a crime. "

A man who was clearly a person with Downs did let out a wail. "I am so sorry Mr Steve, I know you asked me to bury them both but I couldn't. Sasha was nice to me, and little Glenda was so cute"

Steve gasped, then he almost roared. "You pathetic fuck! Imbecile, don't you dare say another word!"

Greg swallowed, his eyes were large and innocent and he tried to smile. "But you have said that we should show compassion for lesser beings and you have also said that women are lesser beings, and that we shall do what we like with them, and I wanted to save them"

The sheriff stood there looking as if he was receiving a great gift, the SWAT members all carried recorders and cameras, this would all be stored for the future. Steve did roar in anger and the two guys who were still up there went back inside and came back out with huge cartons filled with candy, chocolate and other luxuries. The sheriff smiled like a cobra. "Here good people, here is what your great leader have been stuffing his face with while you were forced to eat rotten kale and withered carrots."

He did tip one of the cartons over the rail and the content did rain down over the people who were gathered there. At first they just stared, then you could hear a sort of collective moan and they threw themselves over the things, tearing off candy wrapping and stuffing themselves. The leader tried to speak again. "My brothers, do not do it, you are poisoning your bodies, only that which grows in the earth is pure, remember? They are trying to destroy what I have created"

The sheriff hauled the man back inside. "What you have created is a nightmare, I bet the prison will be thrilled to receive such a dignified guest, and you won't be allowed to leave in this lifetime. You see, there is this little thing called DNA and believe it or not, it is not a lie nor a conspiracy that you can trace a person's origin via their DNA. If that test shows that the baby the girl carried is yours you are going down for sexual abuse of an underage person, and I bet that toddler was yours too ha?"

The leader didn't speak, he just growled and hissed and the other officers there did call for ambulances and social workers and food and clothes.

Within two hours most of the congregation was taken to the local hospital and their health was atrocious. Most were terribly underweight and the local doctor was running around like a mad, stating that if the good lord wanted humans to eat only plants we would have been given four stomachs like a cow! The children were taken in by the protective services and it would be a terrible job getting them used to society but nobody were going to give up on them. That was for sure. The adults were slowly realizing that they had been fooled and duped and the rage and the shame they showed was heart wrenching to witness but they all did come clean, telling of abuse and beatings and odd and twisted beliefs.

There were graves there, sixteen in all, most were elderly people but there were also some stillborn babies and a couple of young girls the state coroner determined to have died as a result of sexual abuse. They had bled to death after having been penetrated with what the coroner believed to be a broom stick. One of the loyal men following the leader did try to make his own punishment more gentle by witnessing against his former "saviour" and he said that the two girls had tried to run away and been caught and Steve had raped them both and when he was tired of it he had told the two most loyal among them to use the broom on the girls.

The police was in shock and as the list of horrors did get longer it got out and ended up on the front pages. A picture from one of the helmet cams did leak to the press, you could see Steve on the balcony, the sheriff behind him and it was raining chocolate bars over the desperate crowd beneath them. It did look like some odd renaissance painting.

Thran and Bard did drive back to the city with the van Steve was kept inn, the man was constantly screaming and complaining and trying to sound as if he had no idea that his followers were close to death from malnutrition but nobody did listen to him. When they did arrive at the jail where he was to be kept until the trial Thran did pull the jail manager aside and he did whisper something to the man and the manager did grin back, like a shark. Bard didn't know what his husband had said but it had to be something rather interesting.

It took two weeks to gather all the evidence but the trial got started fast since they had so many witnesses and as the accused was being brought forth Bard did see what Thran had done. Steve was no longer fat, he was looking grey and tired with saggy skin and the orange jump suit only made him look sulking and mean, like some obnoxious teenager or something. Thran did snicker. "I told them to feed him only oat meal, that ought to teach him a lesson or two about hunger"

Bard had to gasp, then he laughed. It was very fitting. Steve kept yelling that they had no evidence and that he was innocent. He hadn't done anything of this, it was a conspiracy. He kept interrupting the witnesses and made such a stir that his own lawyer stood there looking as if he was in absolute despair. Thran had a strong suspicion that the lawyer would have preferred to represent somebody a little more reasonable, like Hitler or Stalin. For this guy was way over the top.

Then the door opened and a tiny figure walked inn, head held high and eyes almost blazing. She walked straight up to the witness stand, did swear on the bible with a loud and clear voice and she didn't falter even once. She did point at Steve as the man who had raped her several times, first when she was seven. He was the father of her now dead child and he had also raped all the other women of the group, many times. She stood there and didn't hesitate, she didn't try to hide anything, the clear young voice didn't even tremble as she told everybody how their leader taught them that they should shun all produce created from animals, that all medicine was bad and that they ought to live off the land.

But when he and his men left the farm to go on missions they would stop and eat at MC Donalds and the attacks made towards farms and other places where they kept animals were just to keep the attention of the public away from their group. It had all been smoke and mirrors for she knew that Steve owned shares in a huge fabric farm up north which did produce pigs and the conditions there had been described as atrocious even by people who weren't vegetarians or vegans.

She had been forced to ingest some sort of mushrooms for Steve was afraid that she would run away and he wanted her dead. She had almost died but Greg was smart enough to know what type of mushroom it was and he had told the doctors. Thus they had found an antidote. There wasn't a dry eye among the jury when she did finish her testimony, there was no doubt that they all would agree when it came to passing judgement.

The mother of the dead toddler was also taking the stand, she had tried to help her child with whatever she had of remedies but she had been punished when the leader found out that she had used something he hadn't ordered. They had hit her under her feet until the soles almost came off.

But the girl. Sasha as her name was, had survived even though she had been deemed as a living dead for several days, her brain had recovered as if by a miracle and she was taken care off and given a very loving new home. Most of the followers of the great Steve did recover, although some did struggle for years and if they did continue to be vegan or vegetarians it was of their own accord, not because some megalomaniac told them to.

Thor was very glad that the case was solved and the entire station did show up for the funeral held for the toddler. Judith did cry some more and afterwards they all went to the local restaurant and had dinner together. Some ate meat and others salad and most were very pleased with the punishment the leader and his men got. Steve was deemed as too dangerous to be let out of prison so he would stay there for the rest of his life, in a high security prison where he would have to eat exactly the same boring bland food as the other inmates.

The judge was a bit of a rascal and he liked to make the punishment fit the crime in more ways than one. The loyal men had all done very bad crimes so he did send them to a prison in another state. The place was run by a very strict sheriff who did believe in exactly what Steve had, only in a slightly more efficient manner. Everybody had to grow their own food and they didn't use any sorts of modern equipment at all, the inmates did pull the plough and the harvesters. They had to use special buckets to irrigate the fields and it was work from sunrise to sunset. The sheriff did believe that people back in the Viking age and early middle ages were tougher and fitter than the average person today and thus he held everything at that level, the cuisine, the clothes and the punishments. It took two weeks before huge burly tough guys were begging for a hamburger or even a warm shower. But nobody did pity them and their pleas fell to deaf ears.

Steve did soon became the property of a very powerful gang leader named "The snake" and he was rented out on an hourly basis. He learned what it meant to be helpless and under the command of others.

Six months after the case was finished the police station did receive a whole basket of very nice strawberries from the sheriff of the town where the arrests had happened. Now a real farmer had taken over and turned the place around and as the sheriff said it, there has to be a balance to everything, even your diet. Steve had surely misunderstood that for he had taken it all and left nothing for the others.

Thran and Bard did take some of the berries with them back home and enjoyed them with their kids and Bard swore that if his kids wanted to go vegan or vegetarian that was alright with him, as long as they didn't lose their minds and ate with care. He didn't want to see anybody in his own family with scurvy and everybody promised that although they loved vegetables they would prefer a varied diet. And that was the end of that discussion.


	13. Chapter 13 Diggy diggy hole

Chapter 13: Diggy diggy hole

He had worked on many a construction site but never one so riddled with problems as this one. The very site seemed to be cursed, Murphy's law did kick in there, every single day. The plans for the new hotel were so filled with errors he wondered what the architect had been smoking, and the contractors were arguing like angry cats about who's responsibility it was to finish the different stages of the operation.

It was going to become a very grand new building filled with lots of clever new ideas and he didn't doubt that the end result may look good but his experience told him that the hotel never would be a success. It was way over the top about everything and the expenses were threatening to close down the entire operation. If it wasn't the machine they used to secure the window frames in place which did break down it was the pump sending concrete up to the lower levels, if it could break down it would break down, that was becoming a daily routine there. The hotel was gonna be named "Gloster's paradise" after the man who got the idea but it went by "Gloster's hell" among the workers

This day was like the others, already they had lost the use of one of the cranes due to mechanical problems which the mechanics couldn't figure out. Four grown men stood there scratching their heads under the hard hats and being the one to manage the work and make sure it ran smoothly was close to impossible under such conditions. It would leave him with an ulcer and a nervous breakdown way before the deadline was due. This one hotel could go to hell, it was a miracle nobody had gotten killed yet.

But everybody needed the jobs, they needed the money, heck, he had a wife, three kids and an ex wife who was at his throat twenty four seven claiming he owed her money he never had had. The hotel had a slightly curved façade which made the job very challenging, also, the architect had drawn in a huge pool with several fountains in front of the building and some moron with more money than brains had insisted on the pool being built simultaneously with the hotel. Everybody knew that this would make the work ten times harder for who truly wants to work on a high rise knowing that somebody were digging a bloody hole right in front of it? The top soil there was soft, he did have nightmares of the entire scaffolding sliding out of balance and ending in the pool.

It was raining, it had done so for a week and it added to the misery, everybody was on edge and it did put a lot of strain on him. He was about to take a walk over to where they stored the window frames when he heard the sound of an almighty crash and the shrieking of metal being torn. He winced and ran, one of the other managers came running towards him. The man was pale. "Boss, boss, it is Boris, he has done it this time…"

Being a boss can sometimes be a grand pain in the ass, this day it felt as if he had a freakin pineapple stuck somewhere back there. He groaned. "Ah for Christ's sake, what has happened, I heard the boom"

The other work manager was blinking and was it concrete on his shirt? "The idiot was lifting the bucket and managed to snag the wire on one of the beams for the goddamn veranda, he pulled it off!"

He held his breath. "The beam?!"

That would be a disaster. The hotel was to have a huge veranda in front, five stories above the entrance, with a spectacular view and so on. If the support beams were injured in any way they would be set back weeks if not a whole month. "No, the wire. The bucket fell boss, straight down. Didn't hit anybody but there is concrete everywhere and well, it made quite a hole. "

He frowned. "A hole?"

The man nodded and did look a bit uncertain. "Yeah, a hole. It…it looks ominous Sir"

Fekking hell, a sinkhole? Under a construction site? Now that was the stuff of some serious nightmares and he wondered how they were to remove the concrete. The bucket was a huge container which did lift concrete up to the top levels and it held several tonnes of the stuff. As he did run after the other man back to the accident site he wondered if God somehow did hate him, it would make perfect sense the way things did progress.

There was concrete everywhere, in a thick layer and it was the sort which does solidify very fast. He waved his arms. "Guys, get some hoses over here now. We need to hose it off the machinery before it does go hard!"

The bucket was almost gone, it had made quite an impact crater and Boris stood there, looking sheepish. It wasn't the first time that man had screwed up steering the crane but it would be the last. He did point at the man, feeling an odd mixture of relief that nobody got killed and anger since valuable equipment was damaged. "You are fired, get out of here!"

The bucket was tilted onto one side and there was indeed a dark hole visible next to the bottom of it, as they stood there more of the ground there did give way and fell into the darkness and he bit his lower lip. "Catch the bucket with the hook of that other crane, we have to secure it before it falls inn"

The other crane was already moving and managed to snag the bucket and not a second too early. As the massive metal construction was hoisted up the ground did disappear underneath the crater and the men did run away from it. If this thing did expand nobody wanted to end up inside of it. Sinkholes were rare in these parts but not completely unheard of and there had been no signs of trouble of any kind previously.

The hole left was huge, at least two meters across and as they stood there staring into the dark abyss some of the men did start to gasp and retch. The boss did almost panic, some sink holes can contain poisonous fumes and he roared for the men to stand back but then he did feel the smell. He knew it well, much too well.

As a kid growing up on a farm he and some buddies had once come across a cow which had fallen into an abandoned well and died there, it was the same smell, just way worse. He retched and the other boss handed him a flashlight. He didn't want to see but had to, the hole was not as deep as they had feared but it was obviously man made and the source of the stench was easily found. Several corpses, stacked on top of each other. He took a deep breath, no wonder this building site was such a hell hole. "Call the cops, and stop the work. We won't be doing any building for some time"

And in his mind that wasn't such a bad thing at all.

The alarm went off just as everybody had returned from lunch, the entire station had been gathered that day since somebody high up in the hierarchy had decided that the rainy days made a perfect excuse for some long needed updates on the new rules and regulations concerning the handling of suspects. Apparently somebody had threatened to sue them due to "bruising and carpal tunnel as a result of too tight handcuffs" and heaven forbid that some officer did forget about the new rules and ended up getting them dragged to court for "abuse". So everybody were trapped there, having to listen to some paper jockey jabbing about the new rules and it was about as much fun as masturbating using a cactus with long spines.

Bard and Thran were sitting next to each other, both bored out of their skulls as the man kept talking about how important it was to always treat the suspect with kindness and respect. Bard wanted to yawn but Thor had his eyes on his herd and nobody dared to doze off, their boss could bore a hole straight through your skull with one glance. As the lecture went into its second hour one of the people at dispatch did stick her head in through the door, she did look upset. "Boss, somebody has found a stack of corpses, at the place where they are building that fancy new hotel."

Everybody were on their feet faster than a racehorse leaves a starting gate, never had the crew of this station been more excited about murder, they were all going to work like mad, just to escape this torture. Thor frowned. "Really?"

The dispatcher did look rather tense. "It is in a sinkhole"

Bard stared at Thran and his eyes did reveal a bit of disbelief. Corpses in a sinkhole, now that was a challenge if they had ever seen one. Thor stared at them, waved a hand. "Bowman, Thranduilion, you two go, and take those five guys there with you. The rest remains here"

There was almost cheering from the chosen few and the others did moan but off they went, Bard couldn't wait to get out of the overly crowded hot room where he felt as if he was being bored out of his skull.

The construction site was not far away, it had once been an open square there between some old warehouses and they had been torn down almost fifty years ago. The property had belonged to some old family there and been sold to the city five years ago and it didn't take long before the high and posh suggested that a new and exciting hotel would be soooo good for the city economy. Not everybody did agree though, but the ones with the most power were on the side of the wanna be builders and so it was. Traffic was easy since there weren't many out there due to the ghastly weather and they pulled into the gate and realized that Judith and her crew had beat them to it. Sometimes Bard did suspect that the woman had some sort of supernatural powers, being able to know when somebody were found death before the thing was even reported.

She was standing at the edge of a nasty looking hole and Bard did sneeze, the smell was intense and absolutely horrible and Thran made a grimace. "Oh shit, that is really bad!"

Bard nodded, he was used to bad smells, or at least he had thought that he was but this was really ripe. Judith put on a bio hazard suit and a face mask and she seemed to order the crane operator to let her ride the hook down into the hole. Bard cringed, she was too bold for her own good, what if the bloody thing did collapse?

One of the men there walked over, he was in his mid-forties and rather slender looking with a greying beard and sort of haunted eyes. "I am Peter Brown, the work manager here. Is there anything I can do to help you guys?"

Thran pointed at the sinkhole "Why wasn't that thing discovered when they did survey the ground? I would expect that they use ground radar before starting such a huge project?"

The managed nodded. "Good question, normally it would be seen but this sort of geology isn't prone to sink holes at all. The bathroom toys presenting as engineers did skip the whole ground survey thing to save money. They said that the "ground was solid and could withstand the weight" Piece of crap if you ask me"

Bard frowned. "Really?"

The man looked very sad still. "Yes, it isn't a sinkhole. We thought it was to begin with but if you look at the walls it is solid rock, it is man made"

Thran tilted his head to the side. "Man made?"

Mr Brown sighed. "Listen, we think it is an old mining shaft, one not registered at all. There was a lot of that going on in the late 18 hundreds, everybody tried to get rich digging for whatever they hoped to find and not everybody bothered telling the authorities that they had dug a huge hole in their backyard. "

Bard felt a bit shocked. "But still, a huge building project like this has to be done according to the laws and regulations right? The foundations have to be strong enough to keep the building standing even in case of an earthquake. "

Mr Brown did cringe visibly, he did almost look guilty somehow. "Yes, and it has all been checked and signed for too, but I have my doubts to say the least, I have worked in construction for more than twenty years and this is one shady project if you ask me"

Thranduil made a grimace. "So, what do we do now?"

Bard saw that Judith had been hoisted down into the dark hole, some of her co-workers were aiming a sort of flashlight at the corpses. "We wait, Judith has to secure the evidence"

Mr Brown nodded. "Yes, no more than one person down there at all times, I may not be an expert on old mines but that hole is dangerous. You shouldn't risk anything"

Thran saw that the construction workers kept away from the hole, they probably knew that this was a dangerous site and Mr Brown looked at the half finished hotel. "I doubt that this place will be finished, if there indeed are mines underneath the structure they have to be secured before we can build more and believe me, they will rather abandon the project than having to spend extra cash on fixing the problem. A good thing it didn't open up after the pool was installed, with people in it. That would have been spectacular"

Bard had to scoff. "I heard of a case like that, some lake which did disappear into an old salt mine I think it was?"

The boss laughed. "Oh yes, that one. Lake Peigneur I think it was, they were drilling and hit a mine and the entire lake disappeared and sent a trailer park and a botanical garden and then some into the mud. It is used as an example of how terribly wrong things can go if you don't pay attention to the local maps."

Judith was shouting something to her co-workers and they sent down some equipment and Bard winced when the wind changed and sent a very potent whiff of the scent in their direction. Thranduil had to turn around, slightly green. "Has there been any sort of opening down to that hole before?"

Mr Brown shook his head vigorously. "Nope, if there was we wouldn't have been allowed to build here, at all. The mine has to have some entrance elsewhere"

Thranduil started to look intense. "Alright, that makes sense. Then we need somebody who knows mines and how to enter them safely."

Mr Brown made a grimace. "Then call Bart Fehrnwald, he is a cave diver and an expert of everything underground. We used him once, some idiot wanted a spa built inside of a cave on his property and we needed someone who could make sure that it didn't disrupt the natural ecosystem of the area."

Thran did lighten up again. "Do you have the number here?"

Mr Brown picked up his phone and went through his phone list. "Here, he is a very nice guy and will be thrilled to explore an old mine."

Thran stored the number on his own phone and Bard saw that Judith was hauled back out of the hole. She was gesticulating towards the others and some came running bringing body bags and stretchers. The smell was unbelievable, Bard felt like losing his lunch completely. She got out of the hazmat suit and took some deep breaths of air, her hair was plastered to her skin and she looked a bit haggard. Thran put a handkerchief over his nose and walked over and Judith smiled at him but the smile was a bit haunted. "Ah, yes, it is murder, most certainly. I have counted no less than fifteen bodies down there, there is probably twenty or more in the hole but not all are reachable and some are very decayed."

Thranduil blinked. "Are you crazy? Fifteen? That is…"

Judith made a grimace. "It is not a serial killer Thran, sorry to disappoint you. This is a dump site, nothing more than that. The oldest victims did die some years ago but I cannot be sure until I get the bodies on my slab and get to examine them thoroughly. "

Bard did fight his nausea and joined them. "Any idea of cause of death?"

Judith smiled. "Yes, pretty obvious, extreme blunt force trauma, or rather, a pickaxe to the skull. That does the job, all the time"

Thran swallowed. "Seriously?"

She nodded. "Yes, so either we have some vengeful ghost of a miner armed with his favourite tool or somebody had just taken what was at hand and it happened to be a pickaxe, each time"

Bard didn't find that funny, he was familiar with pickaxes and they were horrible, the idea of being killed with one of those wasn't funny at all. Thran took a deep breath. "Right, how long until you can get the corpses out of there? We need to examine the mine, there could be evidence there"

Judith put on her strict face. "Thran, I know you want to get started with the investigation but the dead comes first. And this site is goddamn dangerous, I saw that the mine goes off to several directions down there and the timbers are rotten. Give me and my folks two hours, at least. We have to get them out one by one and very carefully. Some are little more than bone"

Bard didn't really need that type of information, he felt the need to gag. "How old do you think they are then?"

Judith put her hands on her waist. "I have no idea, it is a mine goddamn it, a closed off environment. They have some experts over at the Smithsonian who are good at getting the age of corpses left in such environment, I will have to call them right away."

Thran held his phone. "Right, I am going to call that Fehrnwald guy, he ought to be warned beforehand that he is needed by the police"

Bard just nodded and Thran walked off to find some peaceful spot. There were still machines moving there and Mr Brown explained that they had several tonnes of concrete which had to be poured before it did harden, if not the machinery would be utterly ruined and he would not risk that. People had been fired for less of a blunder than that.

Thran returned after a while, he was grinning. "The cave expert will arrive in a couple of hours, he was very willing to aid us. "

Bard sighed. "Good, and now I guess we ought to return to the station and give Thor some info. And I need a shower!"

Thran did take a swift whiff of air. "No shit Sherlock, so do we all!"

Judith scoffed and grinned wickedly. "Really? This isn't bad at all, believe me"

Bard frowned. "You have smelled worse?"

Judith nodded, her eyes dark. "Yes, ten years ago, a truckload of illegal immigrants who had been left in the trailer, on a very hot summer day. They had suffocated and the trailer was, and I kid you not, starting to bulge due to the gasses. They had been dead for a week when somebody did notice the abandoned trailer and called the cops. We had to drill a hole in the roof before we could open the doors and yes, bodies do liquefy under such conditions. It was hellish."

Bard had to turn and run, his lunch wanted to return to the daylight once more.

Two hours later Bard and Thran had debriefed Thor who was treated to a whiff of the scent from the abyss and then they did shower and Bard sat down to try to find if there ever had been a registered mine in the area. The cave expert did arrive after yet another hour and they were both shocked by his appearance. They had expected a sort of Indiana Jones, tall and tough and the typical explorer. Instead they were faced with a tiny guy with a skinny frame and a face dominated by a pair of huge eyes and thick glasses. He did look like the quintessential nerd and he had a thin almost whistling voice. Thran did greet him with gratitude and the man was grinning from one ear to the other. "So, an ancient mine, where and how deep?"

Bard shrugged. "Downtown, the new construction site? And we have no idea of how deep it is or where it ends, all we know is that there are multiple shafts"

The small guys eyes were shining. "Truly? Oh wonderful, and the construction site? Now that is a blunder for sure, an old mine underneath a new building is not going to add to the stability to say the least. I have seen that once and it was absolutely horrible"

Bard got curious. "Oh? What happened?"

Bart tilted his head, he was perhaps not your typical macho explorer but he had charm. "There was an earthquake, the entire structure of a high rise did slide down into an old mine underneath it. We had one hell of a job rescuing people and extracting the dead."

Thran made a grimace. "I have never heard of that before?"

Bart nodded. "Because it wasn't here in the US, it was in China. I happened to be there on some other mission and they needed help so I volunteered. I know caves you see, the underworld is my realm, they call me Hades online"

Bard sighed and rolled his eyes, feeling a bit impatient. "We cannot enter until Judith and the others have removed the dead, and she said the timbers were rotten?"

Bart frowned. "Really? This is a very dry area, timbers ought to last at least a couple of centuries unless there is some source of water down there. Was the bodies soft?"

Bard did blink and wonder. "Ah soft?!"

Bart grinned. "Yes, as in pliable, not board stiff mummies?"

Thran answered. "Yes, they were…pliable"

Bart smiled, to him this appeared to be rather exciting. "Aha, that means water, and a lot of it. Good I am an experienced cave diver, I bet there is some underground lake or river down there. How exciting, finding such a lake is a bit like going to Mars, it is unexplored territory"

Bard swallowed. "I think I will stay up here in the sunlight if you don't mind, I hate such places, wet and dark and damp and …"

Thran nodded eagerly. "Me too, even if it is raining. "

Bart giggled. "Oh but you will be missing out, I tell you. The earth hides so much beauty and such treasures."

Just then the phone rang and Thran took it, he blinked and sent Bard and Bart a shaky grin. "It is Judith, they are done removing the corpses. We have a green light"

Bart did almost shake with eager energy. "Oh wonderful, I have my gear in the car. Let's go!"

This time the construction site was quiet, all the workers had left, the gates were closed and since it was getting dark the place was eerie. But some huge generators were left on and several work lights were gathered and aimed at the hole so it was lit up like a fourth of july parade. Bart did drive a huge car, a special edition Toyota and they stopped not far from the hole and he was hauling gear out of the car. Most of it was boxes, small ones and then a few large. Bard did frown. "What one earth is that?"

Bart opened one of the crates, it was a spider, or rather, it did look a lot like a spider only that it was made from metal and it carried a camera and some odd instruments too. "Meet S9, one of twelve robots I have designed"

Thran gaped. "Oh damn, I have heard of those, they can map structures right?"

Bart nodded solemnly and took several of the one foot long spiders out of their boxes. "Yes, they are autonomous and have a sort of AI but I can also control them remotely. They send signals back to the main unit and will map any cave system in just a few hours. Even ones which it would take humans weeks to explore. "

Thran tilted his head. "You are gonna use them here?"

Bart nodded "Doh, I am perhaps fond of caves but I am not suicidal, I don't take any chances. That is why I am alive and many of my former colleagues are not. The spiders will do the job for me"

He opened one of the huge crates and revealed a spider three times the size of the others. "This beauty is Shelob, she is a central unit, in a deep cave the signals go through her. "

He did reveal a sort of control panel with some large screens and pushed some buttons. The spiders did come to life, they suddenly seemed eerily lifelike. Each had two tiny headlights and they gathered in two rows. The screens did come online and Bart did punch in a code and then the spiders were simply off. They ran down a plank somebody had left there and seemed to spiral down to the floor of the hole before spreading out. The screen suddenly revealed a sort of scan of the interior of the hole, in three dimensions and Bard was in awe. Shelob did wander into the hole way slower than the others and stopped at the bottom, aiming a small antennae on her back towards the open air above. "Now my minions, go and explore!"

The spiders were obviously very quick and suddenly the drawing on the screen started to grow. Bart stared at it with glee. "Let us see, four different mine shafts, going in three directions. Two are level, two have a slight decline."

He switched on the camera of one of the spiders and it did reveal the interior of a very narrow shaft, held by aging timbers and very primitive. There weren't anything left there, not even a trace of whoever it was who had spent months if not years digging it. The camera was surprisingly steady and joined by a sort of laser and also capable of using infra red. Bard leaned forth. "Somebody has been down there and dumped the bodies, they must have entered from somewhere?!"

Bart switched between the spiders, after having checked with four he stopped and smiled, pointed at the image they saw. The spider was scurrying along the ground at a frightening pace or so it seemed and they could see footprints in the dust. Several as a matter of fact but some were rather old. " One person, carrying a heavy load"

Thran stared at the small man. "Damn, you know how to track?"

Bart giggled again. "Of course, the guy has a leg which is slightly bent to the side and he is also using special shoes, see the pattern? They are shoes made for construction workers and others who face the risk of having their feet caught by heavy machinery. Field scientists like Geologists and so on are also using them, less chance of having your toes crushed by a falling rock"

Bard had to admit that he was impressed. "Damn!"

Bart smiled. "I am goooood!"

The spider followed the footprints like a bloodhound and the laser did read the surroundings with extreme detail. A long narrow path appeared on the screen and Bard scratched his head. "Damnation, this mine is huge?!"

Bart nodded and he moved a wheel, made the image shrink a bit. "Yeah, it is, twelve separate shafts so far, some way down there, and yes, a lake! I knew it!"

He switched the cameras again and now they saw a natural cave filled with water, it was dark and ominous looking and Bard thought that it did look a lot like something he would expect from a lovecraftian novel. "Yes, lake ….Paradise, yes, that ought to be its name, after the hotel"

Thran looked at Bart. "Ah, can you do that?"

Bart nodded. "Naming the lake? Most certainly, I am the one who discovered it so it is my privilege"

He switched back to the spider exploring the shaft with the tracks. "This has to lead to the outside, somewhere. Now, let us see where you are taking us little one"

There was suddenly a map of the area hovering above the ever growing map of the tunnel system and Bart was almost shivering with excitement. "I knew it, it leads westwards. I think I know where it ends now"

Thran did look impressed. "You do?!"

Bart grinned from one ear to the other. "Indeed, see?"

He pointed at a small marking on the map, just outside of the city limits. "Here, it is a ravine and they haven't tried to use it for anything just yet. It is darn steep and there is a danger or flash floods and avalanches."

Bard stared at the map. "Eagle cry canyon?"

Bart nodded. "Yep, there has been plans of turning it into a suburb but nobody has the money. I think that is great, it is a very nice place, for anybody with an interest in geology that is! "

Thran looked fascinated, he was leaning over both the others. "So, there has been mining going on there?"

Bart giggled, a high pitched sound which did sound rather girlish. "Nope, not officially no. You see, the entire area did belong to the Ironbeard family and they were known for being what I only can describe as extremely …frugal….even back in the 18 hundreds. There were rumours of huge deposits of valuable minerals in the canyon and many did try to get a permit to go in there and explore but the owners did chase them off, one by one. You see, the Ironbeard's were originally from Scotland and they wanted to mine the area themselves but the leader of the clan, old Dugal Ironbeard did oppose the idea since one of his sons did die there due to an accident. He believed the canyon to be cursed and so nobody were allowed near it"

Thran frowned. "Somebody did make the mine though?"

Bart did clap his hands. "Yes, there has been a legend regarding Eagle Cry canyon for years, and it claims that one of the grandsons of old Dugal did disobey his leader and started digging in secret. He must have done an amazing job, this mine is very well made although it is primitive. The mine has never been found so well done, a lot of people will be thrilled to hear that the legend in fact is true. The Ironbeards have been among the wealthiest families of the state for the last century and a half so Don Ironbeard did indeed find something or else you can call me a donkey's arse"

Thran stared at the images, the entire system was massive! "What could he have found down here?"

Bart had an insane look upon his face. "Probably silver, and maybe gold too. I would bet that the fact that the Ironbeards are famous for selling very nice rubies have something to do with the mine too"

Bard swallowed. "But it cannot have been used for many years? It is abandoned!"

Bart snickered. "Oh yes, that! The rumours do claim that old Don did die after having spent some time in the mine, I have no idea of whether or not it is true but everybody who can read knows that he did die of an unknown ailment in 1903, and if that ailment wasn't radiation poisoning then…Donkeys's arse. "

Thran got a wee bit pale. "Seriously?!"

Bart laughed and nodded. "Yep, Uranium. I bet they did hit a heck of a lot of the stuff back then and didn't know what it was or how dangerous it is. If you stay close to it for too long it will affect you. Heck, the local Indians never ventured anywhere near Eagle Cry canyon, they said it was inhabited by evil spirits which made you cough up blood, lose your hair and fingernails and die horribly"

Bard was stiff, his body felt like a board. "Ah, today, what would the mine be worth?!"

Bart scoffed. "That depends"

Thran looked intrigued. "On what?"

Bart shrugged. "On who's asking. If you are a terrorist trying to make dirty bombs, a heck of a lot. If you are the government trying to protect your population and gather a source of energy not that much at all. Getting that shit out is way too dangerous if you don't want pollution, poisoning and a shitload of problems. It would be way more expensive than leaving it alone and the profit would be negative, believe me."

The spiderbot did suddenly slow down, there were a sort of door and luckily it wasn't closed. The bot slipped through and they saw slivers of daylight through what appeared to be an assembly of rocks blocking the entrance. The spiderbot did climb onto the rocks and the camera did pick out the surroundings. It was dark but they saw the glow of the city and some stars. "Bingo, I was right. It is at the top of the canyon."

The bot turned around and they saw a pickaxe leaned up against the wall, it did look rusty but if you looked hard enough you could see hairs at the end of the blade. Bard felt nauseous again. "So, the people were murdered on site"

Thran's voice was dry and Bart steered the bot back, it had to return to its brethren. "Yep, seems like it. "

Bard felt intense. "What can make somebody do something that ghastly?"

Bart cracked his knuckles. "Greed, mark my words. And I bet it was greed which drove the victims to the place too"

Thran nodded slowly, his eyes were distant. "I want to wait for Judith to finish her autopsies, then we go there to see. There could be some sort of clue there to what this is all about"

Bart rolled his eyes. "Oh you don't need to go there to know that. The Eagle Cry mine is a legend folks, many have tried to find it over the years. It is said to be "extremely wealthy" and "filled with treasure" and there are treasure hunters everywhere. I want to bet at least two month's worth of wages that the dead are such, treasure hunters"

Thran did tilt his head. "I won't take that bet for you are most certainly right. "

Bard looked at the camera again, the spider was running fast and there was a beep coming from the computer. "Ah, our little friends are done mapping the system, now, let us see here"

The finished map was huge, and intricate and Bart pointed at it. "Aha, look here, the lower levels are in fact a natural cave after all. Don Ironbeard did hit a cave system made by nature and I bet that the Uranium is at the bottom since nobody up here has started glowing in the dark so far"

Thran cringed. "That is great, I don't want to know that I am living on top of a bloody A bomb"

The cameras had recorded everything and Bart smiled. "No life down there, not even insects or bats. Nature is wise, it does avoid danger, unlike our kind."

Bard frowned. "Is it normal with life down in old caves and mines?"

Bart giggled. "Hell yeah?! I have come across cave spiders as wide as a dinner plate and in one place we found some sort of fish with no eyes and a sort of gnawing jaw with thousands of teeth. It had evolved to gnaw the moss of the rocks but it was just as efficient at gnawing at wet suits and flesh so we stayed clear of that cave"

Bard did feel faint, a fish capable of gnawing through wetsuits? Bart cracked his knuckles again. "It did gnaw bones even, the scientists gave it the name Infernus Smeagolus and the cave is off limits now. It is the only place where it lives so nobody wants to risk its existence by introducing foreign germs and stuff"

Thran shuddered. "A bone gnawing fish, thanks a lot, I wouldn't mourn if it went extinct!"

Bart nodded. "Me neither, it was my wetsuit it tried to digest and I still have the scar, it is nasty"

Bard frowned. "Did it get your legs?"

Bart had a peculiar expression on his face. "Had it only….no my friend, my battle wound was placed…further up my anatomy….it was a pain in the ass to be frank. Two inches further inn and ….bye bye manhood"

Both investigators cringed and went white and the spiders started to reappear and climbed onto Shelob to hitch a ride back to their master. After a while the last one came scurrying and Bart did start to pack up his things, he did seem to be thrilled still. Thran stared at Bard. "I wonder if the Ironbeards know about the mine and the fact that somebody has been down there?!"

Bart shook his head as he switched off the spider bots. "I am rather sure that they don't. The Ironbeard's of the 18th century were a bunch of headstrong and not very ethics minded people but these days they are posh and very correct. But I think you ought to speak to them, it could be that somebody has approached them regarding the mine"

Thran nodded. "I will keep that in mind!"

Bart patted the computer. "I will mail you the map, one copy has to be sent off to the city officials and another to the geological survey, it is the law. But at least you know that there is a heck of a lot of unexplored space down there. The lake could hide God alone knows what!"

Bard shuddered. "Like leeches, a foot long with a nasty appetite?"

Bart did snicker again. "Exactly!"

They thanked Bart for the help and promised to keep in touch, then they took the drive back to the station, Thran shuddered. "That fish he did mention, what a goddamn monster!"

Bard nodded. "The horror novelists ought to go to mother nature for inspiration yes, for goddamn it, jeezes. She is way more creative than any writer for sure"

They pulled into the garage and were met by one of Judith's co workers, a young lady with a pair of gentle eyes and a skin which told them she hardly ever saw daylight. "Ah, sirs, Judith just sent for you guys, she has the primary report ready"

Thran turned on his heel. "Excellent, let us hear what she has to tell us about the unfortunate ones"

Bard would rather not, he was rather sure that the smell of the morgue would be extraordinarily bad now but luckily there were powerful fans there and it wasn't bad at all. Judith stood by a coffee machine trying to make it comply to her wishes and swore when it only managed to cough up a few drops of pitch black liquid. "Damnation, this is crap!"

Thran snickered. "It does surely look like crap if you ask me, so, what have you found?"

Judith did toss the few drops back, it was probably the consistency of used engine oil and more potent than nitro glycerine. "Ah, there you are, good. I just wanted to refresh myself!"

Bard stared at the cup. "By the looks of that liquid you won't be able to sleep again until twenty fifty or so"

Judith just grunted. "Oh I will, this will wear off. Follow me, I had the entire group gathered and we have at least managed to come to some conclusions"

The room was spotless and it was hard to believe that a lot of bodies had been examined there just moments ago. "Here we are, initial findings"

She held some papers and made a grimace. "This is very superficial, but it tells what you need to know I guess. "

Thran took a deep breath. "Right"

Judith pushed the glasses forth and tilted her head. "There were in fact twenty three victims down in the hole but two were simply a mere skull and I suspect that they are very old, from the early mid 19 hundreds perhaps. The other twenty one were more recent, the newest perhaps two weeks old? The others span in age from a couple of months to at least five years"

Thran frowned. "Did you ask the experts?"

Judith nodded. "Yes, surely did. Sent them images and the answer came back almost immediately, between five and ten years. Some of the corpses did look like wax and could be even a bit older but not very likely."

Bard took a deep breath. "That is well and good but cause of death? And age, gender etcetera?"

Judith raised an eyebrow. "Whoa there, impatient are we? But right, out of the twenty one we found only three women, two were among those who were most recent. One was perhaps four to five years ago. She was probably somewhere in her fifties when she died, the two others couldn't be older than thirty. Both dark haired and of a stocky build."

She turned the page. "The males were all between twenty and forty five in age, relatively fit and with a body which did indicate an active way of life."

Thran snapped his fingers. "Explorers, treasure hunters"

Judith did make a grimace. "Yes, secretive folk, who won't be reported missing before it is way too late"

Bard sighed. "Bart told us that the mine was a legend, it would certainly attract a lot of curious people if somebody claimed to have found it?"

Thran nodded and his eyes were a bit sinister. "I say we go and visit the Ironbeard family, and I will ask Elisa to check online if anybody has written something about that mine."

Judith sighed loudly, she did look very tired now. "Do that, everybody seems to have been killed by a pickaxe and it tells me that the culprit has a sort of plan with this, a business idea even."

Thran grunted and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Yes, I fear we are talking about a complete sociopath, somebody with very little empathy for others and a strong feeling of being entitled."

Bard frowned. "How do you reach that conclusion?"

Thran shrugged. "It has been going on for years right? No change of M.O and no signs of remorse. A serial killer does evolve, it is in their nature and a person who kills out of passion will usually break down sooner or later and confess. But somebody like this? It is all a job, it is done meticulously, thoroughly. He is like the soldiers who did drop the gas canisters into the showers at the KZ camps, it was just a job that needed to be done."

Bard felt a bit uncomfortable. "Right, so, what do we do?"

Thran did take a look at his watch. "It is getting late but we do have time for a last job, I think we should pay the Ironbeard family a small visit right away, before the news does come out"

Bard did agree and they returned to the car after having asked Elisa to check the almighty web for any ideas. Thor did also agree on the course of actions and they took Thran's car since it was an expensive top model. The Ironbeard's were indeed posh and on top of the social ladder of this city, they were heavily into charity and politics and they did also own many businesses, including some jewellery stores and designer shops.

The main branch of the family did still live in a mansion a bit to the west of the city centre, it was old and grand and spoke of old wealth and old traditions and Thran seemed to transform as they stopped the car and walked towards the main entrance. He was suddenly moving with confidence and seemed to belong there. He did ring the bell and as a woman dressed in a uniform opened the door he did smile. "We are from the police, we are investigating a murder which does involve some property which may belong to this family. We would like to speak to somebody in charge?"

The woman did blink, she did look a bit flabbergasted, Thran had that effect on people. "Yes sir, of course sir, do follow me sirs"

She stepped aside and they entered a hall which wouldn't have looked out of place at a royal castle. "Mrs Narina is at home sir, I am afraid most of the family are at the Bahamas right now but she knows all that there is to know about the belongings of the family"

Thran sent the servant a sparkling smile. "We would be very honoured if she allowed us to speak to her"

The servant bowed her head. "Very well sirs, I will announce you"

She almost ran off and Thran did whisper to Bard. "Narina Ironbeard is almost a hundred years old, she is truly an iron lady and worthy of respect. She ruled the social life of the upper class here in the forties and fifties."

The servant returned. "She has agreed to see you, follow me sirs"

Thran smiled gently. "I take it that the old lady still has her hearing?"

The servant did dare to smile back. "She is using a hearing aid yes, do not shout. She gets terribly upset if you shout. And treat her like an adult, not a child. She is not senile"

Thran bowed his head. "Got it!"

They entered a huge living room which was luxurious to say the least but also very tasteful. A woman sat in a wheelchair by the fireplace and she didn't look as if she was close to a hundred years old at first glance but as they got closer they saw that she indeed was very ancient. Her eyes were a bit blurred and her skin paper thin and sagging and she was shivering a bit. But she still had the pride and bearing of a lady of high class and Thran did bow his head with real respect. "Ma'am"

Narina Ironbeard was staring at the two men and her eyes got narrow. "The maid told me you were investigating a murder? And it involves our property?"

Her voice was harsh, the voice of somebody used to being listened to and obeyed and Thran nodded slowly. "I am afraid so Ma'am, somebody has found the Eagle Cry canyon mine and used it to store corpses. We think that a fraud has been carried out with the mine at the core of it"

The woman stared at them and Bard saw that she got paler, but she didn't even flinch, if anything her eyes got a bit darker. "That mine was abandoned when my father's brother Don died, it was…worthless"

Thran did make a vague gesture. "It does contain Uranium?"

Narina nodded. "Yes, and it killed my uncle. We hid that mine and nobody outside of the family was to know it existed"

Thran sighed, his eyes were sad. "Unfortunately somebody has used it, we think they have lured people to their deaths there. All victims had their skulls cracked by a pickaxe"

She stared straight at him, the eyes were rock hard. "How many?"

Thran took a very deep breath but he didn't hesitate. "Twenty one, at least. Two skulls were found too, possibly from the early mid 19 hundreds"

She did gasp, for a moment her hands did shake but she didn't lose her calm demeanour at all. This was one woman used to dealing with unpleasant news for sure. "I see. That is tragic. I think I may be able to help you gentlemen, if you would wait here for a few moments?"

Thran tried to figure out what she was thinking but she wasn't easy to read, a lifetime of social life had probably taught her to hide her feelings and intentions no matter what. "Of course Ma'am"

She sent them a grin and turned the chair around, she left the room but left the door ajar and they heard her call out to a servant and ask him to fetch somebody named Christopher. A few moments went by and they heard footsteps, they were fast and hard and Thran did move his lips, he did look intense. He pulled out his phone and showed Bard that he pushed the record button, then he laid the phone onto the mantel piece, hidden from view.

They heard an angry sounding male voice from the other room saying something which did sound like "Now what?!"

The rooms were so large they heard every word, even with the door between being almost closed. "Christopher, I want an honest answer. The police came here, and said that the old mine had been found and that somebody had gotten murdered there. Do you know anything about this?"

The lady's voice was calm, almost indifferent and they heard the man answer. "No, I do not, why? That old worthless mine is of no interest of mine?"

Lady Narina did scoff. "Truly, the servants told me that there had been grey clay on your boots when you returned from you little "holiday" two weeks ago, the mine has that sort of clay, It isn't found anywhere else in this county"

The voice was a bit more tense now. "So what? I was out of the county. The servants have no business snooping around, and neither have you, you old hag!"

The lady didn't seem fazed by the mean words. "I keep an eye on everything here young man, yes, it does include you. I do remember your gambling problem, and you have had more money at times than you truly ought to. I wonder where it came from"

Cristopher did scoff. "It is only my own concern thank you very much, I loaned it from friends okay?"

She laughed, a shrill laugher. "Oh I know your friends Chris, all of them. None of them would be able to loan you a single dime! And you know where the entrance is. Did you kill those people?!"

Her voice was suddenly very cold and hard and Bard and Thran did stare at each other, their eyes huge. "What do you take me for? Some psycho?!"

She could be heard taking a deep breath. "Yes, I remember the maids who had to quit because you molested them, I do also remember the dogs you killed, the cheating and the fake school diplomas. If anybody could kill somebody with a pickaxe to the heart it is you. Your father spoiled you kid, and told you that everything is yours and I don't think you are right in the head!"

They heard something which did resemble growling. "You know what you old twat, they all had it coming, stupid idiots. They paid me to be shown the mine and to invest in it and it was so easy, it was so fucking easy. They paid, I planted the pickaxe of my grandfather in their skulls, not their fekking hearts mind you and got the money I deserve. And you old fucking cunt ought to respect me for I am going to take over this company when dad dies"

Lady Nerina was chuckling. "No you are not. You are no longer part of the family Chris, you have been erased from the will of everybody here. We have been taking our precautions with you young man, you have been a thorn in our eyes for way too long so no, there is no job and no fortune awaiting you, not anymore. I was suspecting that you did something illegal but not murder lad, you have crossed the line and I am calling the cops and asking them to return!"

They heard the chair move and the man did shout out. "No, I will not allow it, stop this very moment or I will crush your head too"

She was almost chuckling. "Would you really kill a defenceless old woman with a firepoker? Seriously?"

Chris was almost barking, they heard the anger in his voice. "Yes, goddamn it, you have been snooping around for too long. It ends now!"

She was very calm and very cold. "Good"

Bard and Thran heard a sudden hard bang, from a gun and both stared at each other before they grasped their pieces and ran through the door. They stopped. Stared. Lady Nerina sat in her chair, she laid a smoking gun onto the table next to her, it was the tiny 22 calibre type some women used back in the days, easy to hide in a purse or under your skirts. Before her lay a man in his thirties, he had a round hole between his eyes and blood seeped slowly from it, he did look very surprised and in his hand he was still clutching a nasty looking fire poker he had to have grasped from the fire place.

Lady Nerina smiled, a very sad smile. "You know, my uncle did have two kids after he found that mine, both were…not quite normal if you catch my drift. His son did well though, but his last daughter ended up in the looney bin. I bet it was the radiation, and the defects have gotten worse. The daughter had two kids born out of wedlock which were born with deformities and adopted off and her lover and his brother did disappear suddenly and nobody was able to find them. I have always suspected that her brother, Chris grandfather, got rid of them and used that goddamn mine. Chris here has always been a terrible kid but I did never expect him to become a murderer. No, never. If I had I would have smothered him in his diapers the day he left his mother's womb. She was a good woman but good wombs have borne bad sons before and will again."

Thran stared still, his eyes huge. "Why?!"

Lerina did look down, for the first time they saw a very frail old woman and not the head of a once mighty and influential family. "How could I not? It is our family name at stake here gentlemen, our blood. And he wouldn't have made it in prison at all, not with his personality. He dishonoured our name, I took our honour back the only way I could and I did rid the world of a monster. Now, do I need handcuffs or are you going to just haul me off without them? I will not resist, I assure you that!"

Thran bowed his head. "Ma'am, no handcuffs, and no hauling. We do leave the way we came, peacefully."

The lady tilted her head, smiled. She had once been known as a great beauty and Thran did see that now. "Good, do whatever you need to do. I am old, I won't last long enough to go to trial. But at least I rescued our reputation, that means everything you know, absolutely everything"

Thran smiled, a very sad smile. "Yes Ma'am, I know all about that. We will call and ask somebody to retrieve the body, you did shoot him in self-defence. I don't think anybody will hold that against you"

She bowed her head gracefully. "Spoken like a true gentleman, I would have offered you both refreshments but alas, I need to go to bed now. I am very…upset"

Thran did push the still smoking gun into an evidence bag. "Of course Ma'am. Have a good night"

She winked at them. "I intend to, goodbye sirs, and have a safe trip back to the station!"

A servant came and stared at the dead man with giant eyes, Thran sighed and gestured towards him. "Get the lady back to her rooms. There has been….a tragic accident. We will sort this out"

The man was trained well for he just bowed. "Very well sir, have a good night sir"

He grasped the wheelchair and he and the lady left the room. Bard stared at the dead man, his eyes were still huge. "Goddamn it Thran, did he …did she…"

Thran turned around. "Yes and yes Bard, he would have killed her. And yes she did shoot her own relative. I know these families Bard, they are very closely knit but betray your own and the punishment is terrible. There is so much pride stored up here. You call the station and report the murder and I will call the judge and make some arrangements. Lady Nerina is too fragile to leave the house."

Bard grunted. "She did seem as if she is tough as an old dragon if you ask me"

Thran shook his head. "All a charade, she has just weeks left. Stage four cancer. But she will never let anybody see her weakness, believe me. She wants to go out the way she used to live, with style and grace and not the least, dignity"

Bard frowned. "Damn it Thran, how do you know?"

Thran just shrugged. "I am of the jet set remember? These rumours do fly and it is the rumours she feared. So, make the call and let's get out of here"

Bard did call and before long one of the coroners did come to retrieve the body while some CSI technicians did retrieve the gun and Thran sent them the audio file with the whole drama on. There would be no arrests this evening for sure.

Thor was shocked but he did understand, it would not look good if they hauled some old dying woman to the station when it was very clear what had happened. They would leave her alone for a while, until the shock settled.

The rest of the family was called back from the Bahamas to take care of her and Elisa did indeed find evidence online. Christopher Ironbeard had as a matter of fact been running a very nasty business under cover of being a geologist.

He had promised many people that they would get filthy rich if they helped him invest in the gemstones which allegedly could be found there and others had been lured in by the fame of having found the legendary mine. In all he had managed to get his hands onto more than fifty million dollars he had spent on everything from drugs to whores and as the victims were identified the Ironbeard family did pay a huge compensation to their families. Not because they had to but because they felt that it was the appropriate thing to do. Chris was buried in a rather anonymous grave at the local cemetery, he wasn't even given an elaborate headstone and he was erased from the family annals. He was a black sheep indeed. The two skulls did as a matter of fact belong to the lover of Don's daughter and his brother and they were sent back to their families too. It was obvious that the Ironbeards had dug way too deep back in the 18 hundreds.

Lady Nerina Ironbeard was never even mentioned in the papers. Two days after the incident she was found by her nurse in the morning, looking as if she was fast asleep but she had passed away. She had gotten her hands on a whole box of very strong painkillers and downed them all, her iron will had served her well one last time. There would be no scandals involving her name.

Her funeral was grand and people came from all over the world to pay their last respects. She would be remembered for a long time to come but Chris would become forgotten rather fast. The old mine was filled with concrete and sealed off completely and the case was closed, in record time and with odd results. Chris had been told about the mine by his aunt who was absolutely senile by the time and he had found a way to get more money. Nerina was right, he had wasted a lot of the fortune he had access to before he became a murderer and he had done a lot of very despicable things. But as they say, the one who does dig a grave for others usually ends up occupying it himself.


	14. Cherry pie

Chapter 14: Cherry pie

Thran was fast asleep and Bard laid there with his husband's arm wrapped over his chest and the long silky hair was tickling him on the nose. He needed to pee and he needed to move but the moment was so blessedly peaceful and sweet and he didn't want to end it. They had spent some time making love before going to sleep and the room was completely quiet and dark. It was a rare luxury, usually something was always going on and the moments they had all to themselves were rare and so very precious. But now they were away from home and the hotel was a very nice one, they could indulge themselves. An empty bottle of very nice champagne lay on the floor and their clothes were spread all over the furniture. Bard saw that Thran's boxer shorts had ended up hanging from one of the branches of the small palm tree which did decorate the corner of the bedroom. He could vaguely remember having torn it off his husband using his teeth, they had been rather wild for sure.

The police authorities did host a huge convention and this time Thor had decided to avoid the blunder of the last one and sent everybody off to a very nice hotel. The small city where the convention was held was a famous winter sport destination and it was a gorgeous area with lots of activities possible, from snow golf to downhill skiing. They had been there for five days and according to the plan they were to return home the day after but they all knew that this would be impossible. The reason was a peculiar one.

The convention did gather people from all over the states and the lecturers were also famous and skilled people who had a lot to teach the police officers who had been sent there. The program was a tight one with several lectures each day but that wasn't a problem for the lecturers were experts and their topics very interesting. The problem had started the day before, in the afternoon. One of the people giving lectures was a legend of forensic science, a man who had invented things which by now were irreplaceable. He had come up with a new type of infrared camera which could pick up even the smallest trace of heat and he had also invented a sort of glove which allowed the technicians to remove fragile fingerprints from smooth surfaces without the use of glue, they would also change colour if there were traces of drugs or other chemicals present. Fëanor Finnigan was a man who was a genius and he knew it too, he was arrogant and very proud but he had reason to be and his lectures were packed. There wasn't a single seat available and some chose to stand even if the lectures did last the entire day. The topic was safe handling of evidence and it was a very crucial theme so everybody tried to soak up as much knowledge as possible.

Fëanor was also a chemist and he used a lot of chemicals in his work and that was when things went south. The owner of the hotel had two nephews, both in their late teens and both were hellions of a significant calibre. It wasn't that the boys were malicious, far from it, both were sweethearts but they were extremely easy to distract, impatient, impulsive like none other and they had no thought for the consequences of what they did. They did love pranks too and if they saw something exciting they couldn't help it, they had to try it out, at all costs. So when Fëanor had left some of his equipment in the room the lads had used their master key to enter and they had brought some stuff with them to the roof of the hotel.

It had been snowing heavily for some days and some were nervous that the roads had to be closed off, there was a huge danger of avalanches now and the civil defence had been called to blast some of the largest drifts in a controlled manner. But they hadn't arrived yet and some of the skiing slopes were closed just to be on the safe side. The lads had seen blasting happen many times before, they were born and raised there and snow was a thing they knew everything about, or so they thought. The famous scientist had brought some rockets, they were used to launch certain chemicals into the air. The two did load one of the rockets with explosives and managed to launch the thing, right at one of the drifts which had formed on the ridge above the village. And the result? A most spectacular avalanche which very efficiently did obliterate the road and buried most of the cars there too.

Fëanor was livid with rage, the lads were given a very strict house arrest and their teacher was convinced that only some really long and heavy lectures would make them see the errors of their deeds. Both Munti and Pippin did apologize but the fact was that everybody was trapped there for at least five more days. The avalanche had been a wet one and the snow had turned to concrete, they needed dynamite to remove the many meters of hard ice. Thran and Bard couldn't have cared less, they did love the fact that they were to stay in the luxury hotel for some more nights. The lads were told to help out wherever they were needed and Thran did feel a bit sorry for them. He remembered being a lad himself and the boys were brilliant, if not very mature. Thran had laughed and said that the boys would make great investigators one day, they were curious and brave.

But now the hotel was packed full and the lectures were held wherever they found some spare room, the avalanche had harmed another hotel so badly the guests had to be evacuated and the luxury hotel was the only one with available rooms. So there were people everywhere and the investigators were moved to the suites since the other guests couldn't pay for that sort of rooms. Thran was rather sure that Thor would blow all his fuses when he received the bill but who cared? They had in fact met up with several people they did know and that did include Celegorm. He was there to give a lecture on how to best use the K9 units and he had managed to convince many of the people present that a good dog was worth its weight in platinum. Thran and Bard had agreed to meet up with him the next day, he had brought his dog Huan and the massive beasts had to be exercised a lot. It was rather cold but everybody had known that they were going to the mountains so they had brought good warm clothes and Bard was looking forward to an easy day.

The suite they had been given was the most grand of them all there and Bard had felt that it was a wee bit over the top with a huge fireplace, the hide of a polar bear in front of it and enough booze to make an army dead drunk. Thran on the other hand was very pleased indeed, he felt that they did deserve it. When Bard finally managed to wrestle himself free from Thran and got out of bed he did see that it was getting light already and the hotel was awakening. He heard the workers scurrying around and he did what he had to do and then he sat down to have some water and fruit. Thran did awaken a while after and they went to the restaurant to have a good breakfast. The hotel was famous for its cuisine and the day before they had enjoyed a dinner which did include a turkey dish which had been to die for. Fëanor had in fact been there too and it had been like being visited by royalty. Thran had been talking to him and they had discussed the newest inventions with enthusiasm while Bard sat there with a silly grin and felt like an idiot for not being able to understand all the details of what was being discussed.

The weather was brilliant outside, the sun was shining and the streets were packed with people. There were no lectures that day and the participants were using the extra days to explore and enjoy the charming village. They met Celegorm by one of the ski slopes, he had been running with Huan and people did walk around the dog in wide circles. The tall blonde was in a good mood, he was whistling as they walked along the streets. There were a lot of shops there, some sold very expensive stuff but there were also some smaller ones which sold locally produced things and Thran wanted to buy some sweaters for the kids. Bard did agree, the sweaters were both warm and pretty and he was sure that Tilda would love one with horses on it. Celegorm did tell them that his nephew was in town too, he was visiting his fiancé who came from a local family and had hitched a ride with Celegorm. The lad, Celebrimbor, was a promising artist who did specialize in metal and he and the girl were in the middle of a very promising project.

They did spent some hours there and then Celegorm did suggest that they had lunch at a local restaurant which was well known for its excellent baked goods. The place had its own bakery and the recipes were family secrets. The restaurant was placed in a back alley and it was old fashioned and very cosy and they found a table and ordered that day's special, a sort of pizza with just local ingredients. The meat came from a farmer nearby who bred belted Galloway cattle and there was another farmer there who grew vegetables in greenhouses. The altitude did give the vegetables a very nice taste and the flour and milk was also produced on site. The pizza was excellent and it was a pity that the recipes were secrets for Thran was sure that Jean would have loved to have them.

They sat there chatting when the door opened and none of them did react at first, two men wearing dark coats and hoods did pass by and walked to the counter and they didn't really see anything until they heard a woman scream and then they heard the sound of a struggle. Bard grasped for his piece but he had forgotten that he wasn't armed and then two men came running back, one was bleeding badly from a head wound and he was staggering, the other one was dragging him with him and they rushed towards the door. A girl came behind them, a huge rolling pin in her dough covered hand and she did look furious. For a moment she did resemble a Valkyrie from some Wagner opera, her hair flying out of the bonnet and her teeth bared. The men ran out of the door and Huan managed to give the last one a good bite, right on the ass.

The girl stopped, heaving for air and Celegorm did blink. "Loki? What happened?"

The girl snarled, she was rather short but very pretty with rather dark skin and hair as golden as a field of ripe wheat. She did wipe some flour off her face and she did look very pissed off. "Son's of bitches, fuck! I cannot believe it, they have never been so bold before!"

Thran and Bard were on their feet and the girl took a few deep breaths. "They tried to kidnap me I think, I bet they believed that I was my sister Narvi!"

Thran and Bard stared at each other. "Ah, what?!"

Celegorm was wide eyed and obviously shocked and Loki did lower her rolling pin, still looking murderous. "It is the Frost family, they have been a nuisance and a problem for more than a century!"

Celegorm shook his head. "Ah, I remember that Narvi did mention something about a family feud yes but I didn't think it was anything this serious?!"

Loki did scoff. "Oh, but it is. It is bloody serious you see, they have been after us for decades and it is all because of a very poor decision one of my foremothers made."

She put the rolling pin behind the counter and wiped the dough off her hands. Celegorm did pick up his phone and did dial a number. The voice at the other end was that of a young male and Celegorm took a deep breath. "Tyelpe? It is me, Cel, someone did just try to abduct Loki from the bakery, is Narvi with you?"

There was silence for a few seconds, then they heard some very inventive swearing "Is she alright? Eru's balls! Narvi is here yes, she is taking a nap, we went clubbing last night so…"

Celegorm took a deep sigh of relief. "Good, keep her indoors and do not allow any strangers into your room, I will be there soon!"

He turned to Thran and Bard who still looked rather flabbergasted. "You two, stay with Loki here, I have to go and check the perimeter, they may know where Narvi is staying"

He was up and out before the two others had time to even react and Huan raced out of the door looking as if he was about to tear into someone really bad. Thran stared at Loki who did look a bit apologetic. "Ah, I am sorry about this, we really don't want to pull others into our own mess but…they have never tried to get physical before!"

Thran tilted his head, there was deep curiosity in his eyes. "Do you mind telling us what this is all about?"

Loki threw her hair back and grinned. "Like I said, a very stupid decision made by one of the ladies of our family. It is a local legend and it shouldn't really matter at all but for some bizarre reason it does."

Bard was curious too. "So, what is it about?"

Loki grinned. "Recipes, believe it or not! You see, our ancestor Frigga was a famous baker, she was in fact a genius and we are using her recipes even today. They are what set our bakery apart from the others here and we guard the secrets as if they were rubies and diamonds. "

Thran had to grin. "I can understand that, this place is famous or what?"

She nodded vigorously. "Indeed it is, the problem is that Frigga was a bit naïve and married a man from the Frost family, believing him to be honest and a decent person. But he was only out for her money and fame and didn't really care about her. So she did divorce him after some years even though it was a terrible scandal back then and threatened to make her a social outcast. And according to the laws of the time everything a woman owned when she entered a marriage became her husband's property, in her case that did involve the recipes too but she had never shown them to him and the Frost family felt that she had tricked them and have hated us ever since"

Bard did smack his lips. "Isn't that going a bit far for just some recipes?"

Loki shrugged. "Yes, possibly, but we are a small business and we like it that way. We don't want to expand and become a huge company with lots of employees and so on, it isn't what we wish for. We just want to make a living and make good baked goods and that is basically it. But the Frost family have gotten it into their silly heads that the recipes could make them rich and turn their business into something huge so they have been after the recipes ever since"

Thran was a bit shocked. "Really? But…trying to kidnap anyone?"

Loki sighed and did look tired. "Listen, my foremother did one more mistake, she did deliver the recipes to the patent office of this state and according to the law any patent which isn't kept active will become public after a hundred years. It means that somebody has to go over there and pay to make sure that the patent stays in the family and isn't laid out publicly, for everybody to use."

Thran and Bard stared at each other. "That is a rule I never have heard of before?"

Loki did look down. "Yeah, it is special for this state, and in two weeks it is exactly one hundred years since Frigga did patent her recipes. If we don't go and pay up the recipes will become public, and the Frost family wants to avoid that at all costs. They want to buy them, to make one of our family sign over the rights so that they can use them from now on instead of us, and the only family member who is an official adult and currently here in the state is Narvi. I am just seventeen and won't turn eighteen until next spring so if somebody is to give the Frosts access to the recipes it has to be her"

Thran pressed his lips together, he had a menacing glance within his eyes. "Are they really able to kidnap a person in order to make her sign some papers?"

Loki nodded, her eyes were hard. "Oh yes, they have threatened us many times, they still think that the man Frigga married was tricked somehow, that she did owe it to him to hand over the recipes but she never did. He only married her for them, I am rather sure of it. She married a good man some years later and they had many kids, from whom we descend."

Bard swallowed. "Those two goons, were they of that family?"

Loki shook her golden head and made a grimace. "No, they aren't. I bet they are hired hands. The Frosts are nothing if not cowards and pitiful losers. They do have a bakery and some shops in some of the cities near the coast but they don't do so well. They have no talent when it comes to running a business, they are too lazy and too convinced that the world somehow owes them success without them having to actually work for it "

Bard made a nasty grimace. "Oh, entitlement and stupidity, it walks hand in hand"

Thran was rather intense. "Are they capable of harming anyone? Would they go that far?"

Loki did look nervous, she was fidgeting with her sleeves. "I fear so, if they have hired someone to get Narvi they won't stop. They have to get the recipes before the entire world can access them, they cannot risk competition."

Thran scoffed. "All this for some recipes?!"

Loki nodded. "Yes, Frigga's cherry pie was to die for they said, and I have tried that recipe, it truly is out of the ordinary, and very very nice."

Bard sighed. "There is a police convention in town goddamn it, I cannot believe that anybody would be so stupid as to try something at such a time?"

Loki made a grimace and leaned against the counter. "They didn't think about that I bet, they aren't exactly famous for thinking fast."

Bard looked at Thran. "What should we do?"

Thran got up. "We go see if Celegorm and Huan has managed to get to Narvi and Celebrimbor, Ms Loki, are you safe here? They won't try to harm you again?"

Loki crossed her arms over her chest and she did look formidable. "I will be fine, I am too young to sign any legal papers remember? They need Narvi for that, or one of our relatives back west but kidnapping our mom or dad or our brother would be tough, and difficult too. No, they will go for Narvi beyond any doubt, they may think that she is weak since she is a girl after all"

Bard did look reluctant. "Good, but please, stay here until we have caught those idiots, I don't want to risk your safety"

Loki did nod. "I will stay, promise. I have a lot of work to do so I won't be finished until way after closing time I fear."

Thran did pet her on the shoulder. "Excellent, and keep somebody here with you at all times."

Bard felt a bit annoyed, but he was worried too. This was almost the same methods the mafia would use and he didn't like the idea at all. He got out of the bakery and Thran did text Celegorm and got an address back, they walked up the street and Thran did pull his coat up higher and made a grimace. "If there are people here hired to kidnap Narvi they have nowhere to go, we are all trapped here. It will be a question of flushing them out"

Bard looked at the packed streets. "Ah, I fear that won't be as easy as you may think, there are thousands of tourists here and lots and lots of hotels and cabins, even private homes. It will be like finding a needle in a haystack."

Thran did raise a finger. "Ah-ah, don't say that, remember we have Celegorm here, he can track anything, everywhere and at any time"

They kept walking until they came to a huge building filled with rentable apartments, most were rented out and there was a forest of skis planted outside in the snow. Thran went straight inside with Bard in tow and they stopped in front of a door and Thran did knock. Celegorm did answer the door, he was still wearing a jacket and boots and Huan was by his side, wagging its tail. Behind him was a very tall handsome young man with shoulder long black hair and a pair of striking blue eyes and a girl who did resemble Loki a lot stood next to him. She was older though, a bit more curvy and her skin was perhaps a wee bit darker than Loki's. Thran nodded as a greeting and Celegorm made a sort of sneer. "The idiots did use the crowd and got lost but they cannot have gotten far. The city is sealed off after all"

Bard frowned. "The helicopter pad is open?"

Celegorm almost laughed. "No helicopter pilot will want to land here now, the vibrations from the rotors may trigger new avalanches. No, the area is isolated, until they can clear away all the snow."

Celebrimbor did look nervous but Narvi was obviously as calm as a cucumber, she didn't seem to be affected at all. "I am glad my sister is a champion at using the rolling pins, she has been taught well by mom."

Thran stared at her. "You aren't nervous?"

Narvi shrugged. "Nah, they won't be able to make me sign anything, and I got a phone call just now, I called mom to tell her about the attack and my brother is on his way to the patent office as we speak, ready to re-register the patent. The recipes will stay with us, for the next hundred years too. We were ready to let the public have them but since the Frost family are playing it dirty well, why don't we follow their example?"

Bard had to chuckle, there was grit in the girl and she shook her golden mane and grinned. "They are gonna have to try much harder if they are to get anything out of us, we are tough as the very bones of the earth"

Thran nodded solemnly. "I do not doubt that at all young lady!"

Celebrimbor did still look a wee bit on the nervous side, he was staring at his fiancée and his eyes were rather dark. "Narvi, they did try to kidnap your sister, in broad daylight! They are stupid, and stupid folk do stupid things, remember that!"

Narvi just shrugged him off. "Ah don't worry, they won't dare to do much, they have never been brave, and those hired goons didn't even see the difference between my sister and me"

Celebrimbor rolled his eyes. "You are way too stubborn my dear, listen to what I am saying for once, please?"

Thran nodded. "Yes, do listen to him, I do not like this even a wee bit. They may try some trick and we have no idea of what to expect."

Narvi grunted and crossed her arms again. "Alright, fine! I will stay here, like some goddamn prisoner."

Celegorm did pet Huan. "I will take him for a walk now, he got a good sniff at those men so maybe he can track them still."

Bard looked rather disbelieving. "It has been a while? And there are so many people here"

The hunter just grinned. "That won't matter at all, his nose can't be tricked and he knows how to do his job. It may be that we can find them easily enough"

Thran took a deep breath. "We are allowed to hope, by all means, but I fear that it is too late. The streets are packed with scents now and all the snow? Sorry, I am not an optimist"

Celegorm just smiled. "That is fine, we will try anyhow. Care to join me?"

Bard turned to Celebrimbor. "We will follow your uncle, do stay here, don't leave the room and do not open the door for anyone, you hear me? Not even room service!"

Celebrimbor did nod obediently but Narvi did scoff, she didn't look happy at all. They left the apartment block and Celegorm did place a leash on Huan, the giant dog made many stop and stare and he acted as if he didn't even notice. The streets were packed and they did go through the small city from one end to the other several times, unfortunately Huan didn't manage to catch the scent of the two men, they were nowhere to be found and Bard wondered if they may have sought medical attention, after all, one had been hit on the head pretty bad. Thran was rather sure that they hadn't, there was just one E.R there and it was usually very busy but they were careful to get the correct papers on the patients and if the two were criminals they wouldn't want to leave any trace of their stay.

They went around for a few hours and then Bard and Thran returned to their hotel for the evening. They met up with Fëanor again and the scientist had in fact talked to the two lads who had set off the rocket again, both were sorry for what they had done and he had accepted their apologies and sent them to work in the basement, there was a huge storage room there filled with everything from pillow cases to bed pans and the hotel was going to use the room as a gym from now on so every shelf had to be emptied. It was a great job for the two of them, it ought to teach them some character as the scientist put it and also, he had heard that the teacher the two was assigned to had threatened to send them off to military school as a punishment. He thought that was a little too harsh, he had several kids himself and knew that boys will be boys. His initial anger had diminished and now he was seeing the incident from a different point of view. The lads had after all managed to launch the rocket and that was no ill feat, it was after all rocket science.

The dinner that evening was a very delicious moose steak, the speciality of that particular hotel and the dining room was packed. Thran and Bard had their own table since they had the grand suite and it did suit them both just fine. Since the hotel was rather posh you had to wear clothes which did fit the surroundings and both men had put on something stylish. Bard noticed that not a few ladies, and some gents, did devour them with their eyes.

After dinner there was some light entertainment, a guitarplayer who was really good and then a stand up comedian who managed to twist even ordinary everyday events into hysterical situations. He told the crowd about that one time when he had had it with his tumble drier, the thing did eat socks according to the guy, and he had found a sort of lump inside of a bedsheet and been convinced that finally, there were all the socks they had been missing. But it turned out to be the kid's guinea pig. That was when he lost it and found his rifle and emptied it into the goddamn machine. The fine and the prison sentence had been a price he had been willing to pay for as he said it, that thing was most certainly possessed by some infernal sock devouring demon from cotton hell.

Bard and Thran did laugh a lot and they had a cosy evening, Celegorm sent a text and said he would stay with Celebrimbor and Narvi that night and so Bard and Thran could relax and enjoy the time away from their family. Jean had her hands full these days with the horse farm and the restaurant and everything and the boys were seemingly everywhere at the same time, Bard was stunned by their energy at times. When Bard and Thran finally got to bed it was way after midnight, they had enjoyed a drink at the bar with some other police investigators and they were tipsy and slightly tired and fell asleep right away.

Both were rudely awakened some time later, it was a blaring alarm and both sat up, confused and slightly scared. Somebody ran around banging the doors and the hotel intercom did come on, a voice did tell that the hotel was to be evacuated, there had been a second avalanche. Bard and Thran got up, got on some warm clothes and boots and found their most valuable belongings before leaving the room. They soon realized that something bad had happened, there was a strange scent in the air and there were people everywhere, some did look as if they were hurt for they had blood on them and most looked dazed and confused.

A member of the local police ran around trying to get an overview of the situation and Thran did stop him. "How bad is it?"

The man was shaking all over and in obvious shock, still he tried to do his job. "Bad, several cabins are just gone, and the apartment block acted as a shield, if it hadn't the whole goddamn mid-town would have been levelled."

Bard gasped. "That is where Celegorm and the two others were staying!"

Thran nodded. "I know, is the block damaged?"

The cop did blink a few times. "Yes, but it is standing, it has been tilted slightly though, they are evacuating people as we speak"

Thran tried to think. "Where are they taking them?"

The cop did gesticulate towards some women who were heading for the exit. "No! don't leave the perimeter, it is not safe. Everybody, stay put!"

He turned to Thran again. "Most will be taken to this place, and then to the city hall. It is safe, no avalanche can reach it but this place is not that safe. We fear more trouble"

Bard did feel very nervous. "Can they get people out of here? I see many who are injured? What about search and rescue units?"

The cop made a vague gesture. "We cannot be sure of what to do until the morning, if the wind is right they can land a C130 with equipment and reinforcements on the short landing strip by the lake, those planes can take off from a football field if they have to, they have Jato rockets strapped to the fuselage. But if the wind is from north we cannot do much I am afraid, the snow will build up again before long"

Thran bit his lower lip. "Alright, you shouldn't have seen a very tall blonde guy with a huge dog?"

The cop nodded. "Oh him, yes, he is with the rescue workers, trying to locate those who got buried"

Thran looked at the exit, there was snow halfway up the door and it was pitch black out there. "We have friends at the apartment block"

The local cop shook his head. "If they are alright they will be brought here, the E.R are sending everybody they can spare right now, the hospital building is not safe now so we will be using the city hall as a triage area for those with minor injuries, we cannot send everybody to the hospital in case the structure fails. It will be packed but at least that place is warm."

Bard felt shaken, he saw so many terrified people and he wished that there was something he could do but he knew naught about this type of rescue work and it was so very dark outside. They heard a siren blare again and the cop did cringe. "Aw fuckery! That is the avalanche alarm, we have had a second one!"

The doors burst open and several people wearing good clothes burst in. "Alright folks, everybody, follow us to the city hall, those who are hurt form a group on the left, we will make sure that you are driven. The rest will have to walk."

The cop was almost jumping up and down. "The alarm?"

One of the rescue workers did nod. "A new one yes, but nothing dangerous, it came north of the city, just one of the ski slopes got hit and there aren't anybody out there now."

Everybody did breathe a sigh of relief and Bard and Thran helped some of the injured people get outside and into the sleds pulled by snowmobiles. There was snow everywhere, some places the drifts were taller than a man and the cop nodded. "Powder avalanche, fast and rather powerful but not as harmful as the wet ones. They are like concrete"

The path to the city hall was packed with people and Thran did release a huge sigh of relief when he did see Celebrimbor and Narvi, both wore good winter clothes and hugged a bag close to their bodies. "Narvi, Celebrimbor, are you alright?"

The two did lighten up when they saw the two police men and hurried over. "We are unharmed, just shaken. The entire building moved, it was like a goddamn earthquake!"

Thran smiled. "I am glad that you are fine, did Celegorm go to help with the rescue?"

Celebrimbor nodded. "Yes, but not until he was sure we were alright, he has trained Huan for this too so I bet they are doing all they can to find people"

The city hall was rather large and it was already filled with people. The local doctors had sealed off a portion of it and were working like mad and it was eerily quiet there. Most there were tourists and people who were there for the convention and the few locals were mostly unharmed. Their houses had been built in the safe areas where there never had been a danger of avalanches. As the night wore on more people came, the uninjured men who were dressed well were sent out to help with the rescue work and the wind had the right direction so the people who had taken charge of the operation said that a plane would come with the first light. They needed to airlift some people out asap and they did also need more equipment to help with the digging.

With daylight came also the realization of how bad this truly was, it did look as if the whole upper area of the city was simply gone, just debris sticking out of the snow did speak of buildings and homes and everybody were stunned and humbled by the sheer force of the snow. In the city hall those who could volunteered to help with distributing blankets and bunk beds and also food and Narvi and Celebrimbor were running around trying to help wherever they could. Loki had arrived too, she was busy at the food stand where the local restaurants and the bakery did try to feed people. Most didn't have much of an appetite though, they were too traumatized still.

Fëanor was helping the doctors, he had brought some of the equipment he had used in his lecture and he proved again what a genius he was. Everybody was trying to help wherever they felt that they could make a difference and the relief was great when they heard the sound of an airplane in the distance. It was unmistakeably a huge military transport plane and Thran smiled at Bard. "At least we will get some skilled people who can take over now"

That was when a shout was heard throughout the hall and both turned around to see that two figures had grasped onto a slightly smaller one and was trying to lift it and carry it outside. Celebrimbor lay on the ground knocked out cold and Thran and Bard didn't have their guns on them, nobody did. The two men carried a kicking and screaming Narvi towards the exit while they were wavering some large knives and they probably believed that it would stop anybody from interfering with their second attempt at kidnapping. They had to pass by the food stand to reach the exit and before anybody really could react both men were hit square in the face with something which did steam.

Both screamed and reached for their faces and Narvi fell onto the ground but got up again and delivered two very powerful kicks to two unprotected groins. Loki did step out from behind the counter, she was almost snarling. "Now, how do you like Frigga's best recipe, cherry pie, steaming hot straight from the oven? Bon appetite suckers!"

The two men were on the ground, writhing in agony and since there were more than just a few cops present it didn't take long until they were taken care of, which meant handcuffed and tied up like hams. Bard and Thran ran over and Celebrimbor got up, he was pale and shaken but alright and he did hug Narvi and then Loki. Loki was grinning. "It is a sin to waste good food but in this case I am sure Frigga would have made an exception, that was two good pies well spent"

Thran and Bard had to grin, she was right. Both men were blinded by the hot pies and had some slight burns too and the doctors went to work on them right away, not too gently. Narvi looked as if she wanted to kick them yet again. "Goddamn morons, the recipes have been reclaimed already, they wouldn't have managed to get the right to them no matter what they did"

Thran just shook his head. "I bet they haven't checked with their employers at all, they are stupid enough to just keep going. "

Bard grinned. "Yeah, I bet you are right."

Now the professionals did arrive and several planes came in to land and take off in a well practiced routine. They dropped equipment and people and took people with them out of the valley and Celegorm did return to the city hall at midday. He was tired and so was Huan but they had managed to save some people. The avalanche was a huge one and had flattened many buildings but luckily most had been rather solid so it could have been way worse. Chaos turned to slight order during the day and as people were flown out of the city the work load became less intense for the volunteers. Bard and Thran were scheduled to leave on the next plane so they had to bid Narvi and the others a fond farewell, they would have loved to stay for some more days but now they had no excuse for it and Thor wanted them back home. Narvi and Loki sat chatting by the fireplace and Celebrimbor and Celegorm were discussing the possibility of starting a school for future search and rescue dogs. It was a neat idea and worth looking into.

Loki smiled when she saw them and Narvi tilted her head. "I just spoke to mom on the phone, the Frost family claim that they know naught about this little plot but the cops searched the two men and found both phone numbers, an address and specific orders on one of them, signed even, so there is little chance of them getting away with it now"

Loki had an infernal glimpse within her eyes. "I bet the two will be sent off to the state prison, they have a program meant to teach the inmates new skills. I have already spoken to the judge, I bet they will love to learn how to bake"

That idea made both Bard and Thran cringe slightly and Loki did smile sweetly, holding out two plates with a slice on each. "Pie anyone?"

Bard and Thran couldn't help it, they looked at each other and burst out laughing, they had seen crooks being caught in strange manners before but never had they seen someone being felled by a flying piece of pastry, it had indeed been a piece of cake capturing them. They were sure that Thor would have a good laughter when they did tell him of this and as they enjoyed the excellent pie they had to admit that yes, this pie was good enough to die for, just as they had expected.


	15. I want it all

Chapter 15: I want it all…

He couldn't believe it, how on earth could they have been so sloppy? It was unforgiveable, a clear sign that those morons never should have been allowed to be anywhere near something as precious as his beloved Flora. He was swearing under his breath as he placed the electric lift underneath the huge structure. He had to stop and gawk in awe yet again, she was magnificent, a specimen unlike any other and she was his. Well, only in the name of course, she did belong to the museum and to the entire world, but he wanted to show her off to everybody for he had found her and he had used five long hot and hard summers digging her fossilized bones out of the hard ground. It had been hellish at times, rain and sun, scorpions, rattle snakes and gnats and a land owner who tried his very best to stop the palaeontologists from going anywhere near that rock formation. What did he really believe? That they would poison his sheep? Mow down the crops?

He did smack his lips as he was raised up towards the tail, the electric lift was new and a thing he had insisted on buying, the museum did need it and need it bad too. The new exhibition did consist of several very large specimen and the workers would need it if they were to clean the fossils properly. And now this, he shook his head. Sloppy, very sloppy. Unforgiveable for a palaeontologist, he would never have done such a blunder. The tail of the humongous beast was hovering above the rocks of the display and they had managed to confuse two of the vertebrae, they had switched positions. He should manage to get them back in the right order though, it wasn't really that hard. He patted one of the bones gently. "There there old girl, I will fix it"

He often spoke to the dinosaurs when he worked on them, to him they were living beings and he had never denied that he preferred them to living human beings. To him Flora was beauty incarnate, from her long powerful tail to her terrifying jaw with teeth the size of large bananas. She was the largest T-rex ever found and his pride and joy, the apple of his eye, the highpoint of his career. Some parts of the skeleton were artificial but she had been very complete and watching her put together in all her glory still sent shivers down his spine. Touching those bones, many millions of years old, felt like religious devotion.

He found the vertebrae and swore, the workers had been doing a good job just for once, the screws were very tight and he couldn't unscrew them by hand. He had a screw driver in his office and he sent the lift down and rolled his eyes. He had already had a rough day and he didn't need this. The museum's curator had been at his throat for weeks since he had insisted on changing the backgrounds, he wanted them to be accurate, the curator wanted them to be crowd pleasing. But there was no way Flora ever would have fought a Stegosaurus, they were species which were millions of years apart. Sometimes even the people who ought to know better were idiots the way he saw it. He grunted as he ran down the corridor to his office, it was popularly known as "the dungeon" for he kept an unholy amount of fossils and papers and notes there and only he knew what was where. He wasn't very popular among the crew of the museum but he was respected and that was all that he wanted really. Everyone knew that he was THE expert and nobody did question his knowledge.

He knew more about dinosaurs than anybody alive these days. He enjoyed teaching the very young about his findings, their minds were still not corrupted and he wanted them to get it right the first time around. He had almost lost it that morning when some moron teacher tried to tell the kids that according to the bible dinosaurs and men had once walked together within the garden of Eden. It almost made him want to laugh, if Flora had been alive with humans around the humans would have been extinct ages ago. The deadliness of the Theropod dinosaurs were a source of almost lyrical admiration to him, the brute strength of the T-rex, the cunningness and wickedness of the great Utahraptor, the speed and intelligence of the Deinonychus. Ah, and people called the smaller ones Velociraptors even though the velociraptor was the size of a turkey and not very scary at all? Blasphemy!

He hurried inside, the room was semi dark and he knew exactly where the screwdriver was, the top left drawer of his very ancient desk. He opened the desk and grasped for the screwdriver when he heard a sound and turned around, he felt a surge of intense anger. "You here?! Haven't I told you that I don't want to see you again!"

He put the screwdriver down. "Get out of here or I will call security!"

He reached for his phone and suddenly the world exploded in white light and a terrible pain shot through his head, he didn't even have time for a last thought as he went to join his beloved dinosaurs in the afterlife.

The museum had awakened to a new day, the security guards had opened the doors, the ticket collector had taken her place and the huge halls were already buzzing with life. Two schools were due to visit that day and Mary was responsible for guiding one of the groups through the exhibitions. The group did consist of twenty kids the age from ten to twelve and she liked this job a lot, it sure did beat working as a waitress and she put on her largest grin as she lead the group towards the hall with the newest fossils. Here they kept their new pride and joy, the skeleton of the famous T-rex known as Flora and everybody wanted to see the queen of beasts up close and personal. The entrance was in a corner and it created a very cool effect since you didn't see the huge dinosaur until you stood underneath her towering torso. The guys placing the lighting in the huge room were experts.

Mary had seen Flora a million times and didn't even look up as she ran ahead of the group and placed herself in front of the huge hind legs. "And here she is, the one and only, Flora!"

The kids were staring, slack jawed, some were pale, others looked as if they were close to tears and Mary did frown, she had never seen such reactions before? They did indeed look terrified? Were these kids the overprotected kind? One lad started to make these odd thin wailing sounds which did remind her of an injured puppy and another one did wet himself. Mary realized that something was wrong, she felt something hit her shoulder and she touched it, it was wet? Something was dripping down upon her from above and her finger went red? She took two steps back and looked up, her jaw opened wide and her eyes went huge and large. It is impossible! Her brain was screaming at her, it cannot be! But it was, the professor hung from the mouth of the T-rex, as if the beast had somehow come back to life and snatched him from the ground.

He was impaled upon dozens of huge teeth and the body hung there like some sacrifice to an ancient God, eyes wide open and filled with cold shock. Mary heard somebody scream and then she realized that it was herself and it was a bizarre thought but for a moment she was sure that Flora somehow moved, that the great beast had returned from the dead to wreak havoc among the museum guests. The queen is dead, long live the queen.

The day had started off in the worst way possible, Bard and Thran had awakened very early and they had just been coming down from a very intense round of love making when all hell broke loose. The first warning had been a loud piercing shriek from Tilda, and as Bard bolted out of the door to check upon his daughter and make sure that she wasn't somehow dying he did step onto something small and hard someone had left in the corridor. That sent him flying into the wall and prompted the worst round of cuss words he had ever uttered within that house. He lost the blanket he had wrapped around his middle and staggered back into the room only to collide with Thran who had heard the racket and was convinced that the house was under attack. Now both were stunned and dazed and confused and Sigrid came running, looking as if the trumpets of doom had been sounded and Armageddon started. "Pa! Pa, there is no hot water and I need to shower before school, Tilda tried to take a bath and it was just freezing cold and…"

Bard sat down onto the bed, way too hard and they heard the frame creak as if it was about to snap in half. "Dear, slow down! How can there be a lack of hot water? It is…6:30 in the morning goddamn it!"

Thran was rubbing his forehead and Sigrid just hissed like an angry cat. "It is the boys, they forgot to turn off the hot water last night, after those idiotic experiments of theirs"

Bard sighed and felt how his foot ached like mad. "Dear, are you sure of that?"

The lads had gotten some home work from the chemistry teacher and had been allowed to use the basement wash room for one of the experiments they had to do, it did require some hot water and it was just like them to become distracted and forget to turn it off. Sigrid scoffed. "Of course I am sure! I checked, the faucet was open! I need a shower, I cannot go to school with hair like that, they will laugh at me!"

Bard rolled his eyes, her hair was just fine but try to say that to a teenage girl who thinks that you have to look like some pop star to be acceptable. Thran managed to smile. "Wear a head scarf, it is high fashion in Paris right now"

Sigrid just pouted and shot out of the room again and Bard knew he had to talk to the boys, and then add an extra hot water tank to the house system. It wasn't really made to accommodate that many kids and adults in one go. Jean was already in the stable to check upon her darlings before going to work at the restaurant and Bard and Thran knew that it would be a very swift and cold shower for them before work.

They were just finished getting dressed when Bain shot out of the door to his room. "Have anyone seen a part of my techno lego? It is missing one piece!"

Bard was counting slowly backwards from ten. "Bain, it is in the corridor, where it tried to maul my foot! "

Bain just grinned. "Sorry Pa, I must have dropped it yesterday"

Thran saw the expression within his husband's eyes and tilted his head. "Your self control is remarkable my dear, they say that nobody knows true pain until they have stepped on a lego"

Bard sighed and rubbed his still aching foot. "Right, they are not exaggerating for sure. I have better things to do than to blow my last working fuse"

Thran went over to a cupboard and opened it, he found a pack of pain killers and held it up. "Need one?"

Bard shook his head. "Nope, this headache need more than aspirin for sure. Goddamn it, what a way to start the day. Well, at least it cannot be worse!"

Thran made a grimace. "Ah darling, do not say that! You may jinx our day!"

Bard scoffed. "I am not superstitious!"

Thran shook a finger at him. "Oh but you are, who is it who always wears that terrible grey tie for official meetings?"

Bard just shrugged. "It is a nice tie? And I have never gotten into trouble while wearing it?"

Thran grinned. "And there we have it, superstition"

They ran downstairs in time to hear Legolas shriek whilst trying to shower in the now freezing cold water and they wolfed down a fast breakfast before sprinting to the car. It was still early, they would avoid the worst traffic jams. Or so they did believe. But the main road was almost blocked by a huge semi which had lost not one but three wheels and it was blocking two whole lanes. Traffic was creeping by at a snail's pace and the traffic officer trying to organize everything was about as competent as a proctologist would be at shaping gemstones.

They arrived at the office five minutes late and arrived at absolute chaos. Everybody were running around like headless chickens and the sounds did remind both of a chicken coop. Elisa stopped to greet them, her eyes were wide. "By St Peters dangling balls, don't you think some bastard has managed to send the entire computer system into a lock down? Everything is gone, we cannot even start some of the machines in here!"

Thran and Bard looked at each other and shrugged, they had gotten used to chaos by now, this day was moving from bad to worse, how delightful. Thor was roaring with frustration and some of the IT technicians were working desperately, trying to get the system out of the jam. Bard and Thran had been working on a case for two whole weeks, it did include things which made the public cringe but they were used to it. A murdered wife and a father on the run with the abused and malnourished kids was just another day on the work. The guy had been caught in the nick of time at a restaurant toilet where he was about to drown the youngest of the kids in the toilet bowl. Thran had admitted that he hardly had seen a person with deeper personality disturbances. He was practically insane but not to such a degree that he couldn't be held responsible for his actions, although he tried to make himself seem as if he was completely gaga. Too bad he had no idea of how a truly ill person does behave.

They had just some minor work left and it didn't require the computers so they worked there in peace for a couple of hours as the entire station seemed to dissolve around them. The officers out on patrol didn't get the information they needed, the computers did come back online several times just to crash again and the technicians were pulling at their hair in despair. Bard had to snicker, the computers they used were what he could only describe as prehistoric, he was sure they were the kind NASA had used to guide the space craft during the Apollo missions. Thran and he was just about finished with the last paper work when Thor did stick his head out through the door, his hair was sticking out in every direction and it did make him look rather savage, His eyes were slightly bloodshot and Thran knew that Thor hated it when things didn't function the way they were supposed to.

"Bowman, Oropherion, we have a case. The natural history museum, some dead guy. "

Bard got up, he raised an eyebrow. "The museum? What the fuck?"

Thor rolled his eyes. "The caller who called 911 was hysterical, apparently the guy had been eaten by a T-rex"

Thran and Bard stared at each other again, when they thought the day couldn't get any more bizarre?!

Half an hour later they stood there next to Judith who was gaping like a fish on dry land, she stared up at the mangled remains of the dead professor with awe and confusion and Bard had to gape too. Thran was cool as a cucumber as always but Bard saw the glimpse of intense curiosity within his eyes and knew that his partner found this fascinating. The museum curator was there, weeping and bawling and trying to look calm but failing, spectacularly. She was shaking all over and Bard wondered if it was shock, grief or the prospect of losing visitors which hit her the hardest. But then again, a man eating T-rex skeleton, that ought to draw a crowd pretty fast. Judith tilted her head. "Well, at least there is no doubt about the fact that he is dead, that is pretty darn obvious even to a novice medic. But how the heck did the culprit get him up there?"

Bard pointed to a corner, an electric lift stood there, neatly parked and he saw that it had been used, there were drops of blood on the floor and wheels. "Get the techs to swipe it for fingerprints, the killer must have used it."

The curator was wiping her eyes, she was a rather attractive woman in her late forties but now she did look way older. "Oh God, we…how could this happen? Who would…"

Thran stared up at the body, he walked around it and his face was intense. "Look at the posture? The body was not simply deposited onto the lower jaw of the skeleton, it was pushed down onto the teeth with considerable force, they have penetrated deeply into the torso"

The curator went green and ran out of the room, they heard retching sounds and Bard just shrugged. "Seems pretty obvious yes, but that does require some strength. Just lifting a grown man like that…"

Judith had a distant expression on her face. "He is tall but extremely skinny, I doubt he is very heavy at all."

Another employee did approach them, it was a younger male and he was wearing a uniform and had a very friendly face. "I am to deliver a pardon from the curator, she….became indisposed. But I know all that there is to know about this place so I am ready to answer any questions you may have"

Thran nodded. "Great, first of all, the deceased is a professor?"

The man nodded. "Yes, one of the very best when it comes to the lives and ways of the dinosaurs. He is a world expert on Theropods. That is two legged carnivorous ones if you don't already know it"

Thran smiled and found his notebook. "Alright, so, his name and age and other information you may have"

The man lifted a file he had stored under his armpit. "Here it is, all that is known about professor Underhill"

Bard had to scoff. "Ah, he was named Underhill? And was a palaeontologist?!"

The museum worker sent them a rather pale grin. "Yes, he was a marvellous scientist"

Thran took the file and read through the first page in it. "Age 58, not married, no kids. Been working here for…30 years?! My oh my, he must have been very dedicated to his work"

The worker nodded eagerly. "Oh yes, the professor loved dinosaurs, he wasn't too fond of people though. Well, he did tolerate kids for they could learn something new but adults? He was rather..,grumpy!"

Bard frowned. "Did he ever teach?"

The man looked down. "Yes, and he was a good teacher, but very strict and demanding and the students weren't allowed to do many mistakes before he kicked them out. But he was very dedicated to the field of study. If it hadn't been for him we would never have detected the speed with which a T-rex grows or how a triceratops really moved. He was a genius"

Judith was almost stepping in one place, the techs were busy with the lift and she needed it if she was to remove the body. "Goddamn it, he is probably already stiff, getting him off those teeth will be a nightmare"

The worker went pale. "Uh ma'am? We must kindly insist that you don't harm Flora, if there is even a scratch at her there will be hell to pay, she is insured for eight hundred great ones"

Thran almost gaped. "Flora? They named this heap of old bones Flora? And eight hundred thousand?"

The man shook his head. "No sir, eight hundred millions"

Bard whistled. "Damn it, those are expensive bones then"

The man nodded vigorously. "The most complete T-rex skeleton ever found. Professor Underhill was the one who did excavate her, he spent four years digging her free and I think he loved her as if she was a living being. In some way it is…well, this is macabre but it is somewhat fitting that he did die…in her jaws if you know what I mean?"

Thran nodded sternly and tapped his pen against his teeth, it was a habit he had developed over the last months and it made Bard cringe. "So, did the professor have any enemies?"

The worker scoffed, he rolled his eyes. "Enemies?! No sir, there are plenty of people who hate his guts and despise him but they do all respect him and they would never harm him in any way. He is almost a living God among the palaeontologists. They do envy his genius but without him? We will be set back decades, nobody is as good at putting old bones back together as him"

Thran made a note of it and Bard looked up at the body. "Is it just me, or does he have a wound at his temple?"

Judith squinted. "Yes, I think so, that could be the cause of death. He wasn't murdered here, I am rather sure of it"

Thran agreed. "Yes, the act of hoisting him up there and placing him on the teeth like that speaks volumes of the culprit. The person is angry, there is some very volatile emotions involved here. "

The worker tilted his head. "The professor does have an office not far from here?"

Bard took a deep breath. "Show us"

The worker made a grimace. "Well, be warned! We call it "the dungeon" and the interns are terrified of the place, it is creepy to say the least"

Thran just smiled his usual charming smile. "Ah, that won't be a problem for sure, we are used to creepy"

The man smiled back, his expression said it all (just you wait and see)

They followed the museum worker down a long corridor which was badly lit, the man turned halfway around. "The curator has spent a lot of money on the exhibitions but refuse to set aside any cash for better lighting here where people actually work"

He stopped by a seemingly normal door and made a gesture. "Please enter, at your own risk mind you. One of our students was sent to retrieve a book and ended with a whole mountain of stuff over her, she was claustrophobic and freaked out completely. Had to quit, didn't dare to come back, being trapped like that in the dusty darkness can make anyone snap."

The door opened and the worker hit a light switch and they did immediately know that this was where the professor had met his end. The room was a mess, and not the type of mess the professor had made himself. There was a huge pool of blood in the middle of the dust filled carpet and the shelves and tables were turned over, there were books everywhere, mixed with bones and papers and stuff nobody could identify. It looked as if an earthquake had hit the room, one measuring a straight ten on the Richter scale. The worker squeaked and Thran moaned, Bard knew why. Finding any evidence in there would be hellish, or rather, impossible.

Bard saw that the desk was completely ransacked, the drawers pulled out and turned over and the entire thing had been moved several feet. He could see the indentations in the carpet where the legs had been originally. The worker did look extremely shocked and he backed out of the room, sneezing. Thran looked at Bard "Somebody did look for something, but what?"

The worker was sneezing again from the corridor. "They say he had made a great discovery recently, one he was to publish soon"

Bard frowned. "Could this be an attempt at stopping that from happening?"

The worker did dare to take a peek inside again. "Not impossible, the competition between the scientists is harsh, but murder? I do not think so, unless somebody else has made the same discovery and want to claim it for themselves. It is hard to gain any recognition out there if you have to compete against Professor Underhill. "

Thran was staring at the room, his eyes narrow and Bard could almost hear his brain working. "I think it is a plausible explanation, one which does make sense. The deed does look as if it was done by somebody desperate for sure. Maybe the professor did surprise the culprit and the anger got the better of the person."

Bard nodded and was about to enter the middle of the room when Judith did appear. "Guys, no fingerprints on the lift, but there was some remains of latex. The culprit used gloves, several layers of gloves as a matter of fact"

Thran turned around. "Have you hoisted him down?"

Judith shook her head. "No, they have to recharge the lift, it was left with its power on and it has drained its batteries. I bet the man was killed early last night, he is in full rigor from what I can see"

The museum worker was a wee bit green again. "Can the….can the blood…damage the teeth?"

Bard and Thran turned around and stared at the man. "Really? Do you think so?"

The man cringed and did look sheepish. "Uh, no, they are…stone. Sorry"

Another employee did show up, a girl wearing the museums T-shirt and a skirt which was probably fashionable when Bard's grandmother was a little girl. "The curator wants to know how long this will take? We need to reopen the exhibition soon"

Thran did look a bit frustrated. "You can tell the curator that they can have the dinosaur back when we are done, whenever that may be. It has been dead for 65 million years, it can wait a little longer"

Bard took a stroll around the exhibition, it was very impressive and the worker did smile, a very servile grin. "The professor did create it, he was a master at this"

Bard was impressed, the way the dinosaurs were placed and the lighting did create an atmosphere he could only compare with that of a cathedral. He stopped in front of a small dinosaur which did look like a tank on four legs, the skeleton was rather weird looking and the worker nodded at it. "Ankylosaurus, believe it or not, that thing had a brain no larger than that of a squirrel"

Bard had to snicker. "Like certain politicians for sure."

Finally the lift was recharged and Judith could start her grizzly work, one of her co workers did help her and it was as she had said, the body was as stiff as an ironing board and terrible to remove from the slightly curved teeth. Judith was grinning though. "It will be the first and probably last time in my career that I have to write death by dinosaur on the autopsy papers"

Nobody was laughing though. Bard and Thran did contemplate returning to the office to gather more information when the doors did explode outwards and a man came sprinting in, he was elderly and wore a nice suit. The grey hair and beard was neatly combed and he did look like a very dignified person. Two of the security guards were at his heels. "Mr Falsworth, do not…"

The man stopped, staring at the black body bag which by now was neatly placed on a gurney and his eyes got wide. "So it is true, by God…"

Bard stared at the man, he was obviously upset and now they saw that he was very old indeed, and probably very frail. He did look up and saw the blood on the teeth of the skeleton and he did stagger back and one of the guards grasped a chair and almost pushed it inn underneath the man before he had time to fall backwards. Thran did saunter over and his face was calm and his voice low and almost spinning, it was as if he was trying to calm down a nervous animal. "Mr Falsworth, I am Thranduil Oropherion of the police, I see that you are clearly stricken but this is no place for civilians right now"

Mr Falsworth coughed and his skinny frame did shiver. There was no chance that he was the killer, he had problems lifting the cane he carried, a small gust of wind could have carried him away and where he had found the strength to open the doors so violently was anybody's guess. "I…I am sorry, of course, I have no business being here but Professor Underhill was the best palaeontologist ever, his name will live on for eternity for sure. What happened? Did he have an accident?!"

Thran wondered what sort of accident you need to have to become impaled upon the teeth of a fossilized T-rex, he did recon that it was the Darwin awards type of thing. "I am afraid that Mr Underhill was murdered"

The old man gaped, then he went deathly pale and Judith did look alarmed, she didn't have room for more than one corpse in the van right now. "Dear lord, oh how terrible, how frightful!"

Bard sat down next to the man, just to make sure he didn't topple over and fell face first onto the hardwood floor. "Do you have any idea of why somebody would want to kill professor Underhill, is there anyone within the community who is a bit more jealous than the others?"

Mr Falsworth did get a grasp on himself, with some effort. He did smile, but the smile was shaking and thin. "Ah well, when you do ask. Doctor Berg, he is originally Swedish and a pain in the rear if you pardon my French. We loathe him, the entire community despise that man"

Bard frowned, the name did sound familiar? "Why is that?"

Mr Falsworth took a deep breath. "I am chairman of the palaeontology community and we are all scientist, we love the science and the knowledge and we do honour those who went before us but Mr Berg? The buffoon, the…the chattering ape! He has no respect for the sanctity of the calling, he has turned it into…entertainment!"

Bard wondered how old this man really was, buffoon? He was sure that word disappeared from the dictionaries around 1818 or so. Thran tilted his head, he seemed to have a calming effect upon the old man. "I have seen some of the programs yes, or rather, my son has and I have watched it with him. He does make science available to the young generation, isn't that good?"

Mr Falsworth cringed. "Oh if he did it with at least a semblance of dignity yes, but it is…it is garish and outlandish and he never checks the facts! Who knows what he will fill the vulnerable young minds with!"

Bard nodded. "Has he been saying anything you know is wrong?"

Mr Falsworth did nod, so fast and hard it was a miracle the thin neck didn't snap. "On a multitude of occasions, once he managed to claim that there will be found dinosaurs eventually which will be larger than a blue whale. It is impossible, impossible I say! The very weight of the beast would be too great for it to move, the bones would snap!"

Thran smiled gently. "I see, but do you think that Doctor Berg really is capable of harming anyone?"

The old man scoffed. "He hated Professor Underhill, the good professor did turn down a request to use Flora in a display made for one of the shows. What do you give me? Show! This is science, not a freaking circus!"

The last outburst made the old man cough and wheeze and Judith did look very alarmed. The old man had fire in his eyes now. "It would have been inaccurate, comparing a T-Rex with a Spinosaurus? They have never co-existed! The good professor wouldn't allow it, we use facts, not…"

He started to cough even more violently and Judith sent the men a stern gaze. "I will call for an ambulance, this person is having a weak heart, everybody can see that. No more talk!"

She did find an oxygen mask in her kit and put it on the old man and slipped him a pill too. "You two, go check on this Doctor Berg, I have a live patient just for once!"

Bard wasn't so sure, the way Mr Falsworth acted he was very likely some resurrected gentleman from ages gone by, he did look dry enough to be a mummy and the clothes? They were atrocious! He just wondered why Judith had oxygen available, her patients were usually beyond such aid but she just frowned and shook her head, end of conversation

The two did leave the room and Thran did roll his eyes. "I have heard about living fossils but I never believed that I would ever meet one in person"

Bard had to snicker. "Yeah, I wonder where that one was dug up."

They walked to the car and Thran used his phone to search the web for the whereabouts of the Doctor. He was working from a TV studio in the area known as little Hollywood, it was placed two hours south of the city and Bard stared at Thran. "Do we go there today?"

Thran nodded. "I cannot see why not, the faster we get the culprit the better!"

Bard sighed, he didn't look forward to it, but at least they did something useful. Thran called Thor to update him on the development and then they were off. Luckily they had used Thran's car and Bard could relax a bit and enjoy the fact that the car had way better seats than the cruisers. They always left you with a feeling of having been spanked hard the day before, they were darn hard and if it was cold they never got warm.

Finding Doctor Berg proved to be difficult, the Tv company shooting the science show he hosted was closed for a few weeks, it was a holiday and nobody knew where he could be but fortunately one of the stage workers who worked on another show there knew where the good Doctor did live due to the fact that he also worked for the science show. Thran did thank the man profusely and then they were off. The address they were given was in a good neighbourhood not too far from the Tv studio and they stopped in front of a rather anonymous looking house. It had a lawn and some trees and a nice but old sedan stood in the driveway. Thran did nod at Bard. "Allow me to do the talking"

Bard grinned. "Oky dokey, I will observe"

Thran went up to the door and pushed the buzzer, there was a distant sound of church bells and they stood there, waiting for several minutes before they heard the sound of running feet. The door did open and they saw a younger man wearing a bathrobe and he did look as if he had just gotten out of bed. The hair was sticking out in every direction and the eyes were a bit bloodshot. "I am not interested!"

He was about to slam the door shut again but Thran did show his police badge and the man frowned. "The police?!"

Thran nodded. "Yes, we are investigating the murder of Professor Underhill"

The man went pale, as a matter of fact he got the same colour as old bones. He did stagger backwards and grasped onto a chair just to remain standing. "Is the professor dead?!"

Bard nodded. "As dead as a dodo"

Doctor Berg just stared, he was a rather handsome man and almost as tall as Thran. Now however he did look as if he had been tossed around by a tornado. "Dear lord, how?!"

Thran closed the door behind them, the house was rather dark and it did smell like a house nobody lives in. "We are not sure of the cause of death just yet but he was found impaled upon the teeth of Flora"

Doctor Berg gave them a peculiar glance, then he started to giggle, a weird hysterical sound and Thran frowned. The doctor shook his head "Oh Alfons, you old fart. You died the way you lived, on the edge"

Thran tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

Doctor Berg managed to get a grasp on himself, he did straighten his hair and tried to tie the bath robe a little more neatly. "Professor Underhill was a rare specimen, a man who do not know compromise, He was of those you cannot corrupt, once his mind was set up it was done, he would never back down. I admire him, few these days has that sort of integrity"

Bard frowned, "I heard that you weren't exactly the best of friends?"

Doctor Berg nodded. "Yes, we had our quarrels. He didn't believe in the way I try to teach the younger generations about these things. None of those old fossils do. But these days you have to think differently, if you start talking about carbon dating and continental drift the kids will start looking for the nearest Ipad before you can count to ten."

Thran nodded. "I guess you are right"

Doctor Berg nodded. "We were like continents colliding, it is powerful and violent but very very subtle still. The occasional earthquake, some eruptions now and then but most would never notice that things are happening. My method is adapted to this time and age, kids want to be entertained, they want a thrill, to see something spectacular. It may not be scientifically correct but that will follow, whence the interest is awakened they will seek the truth on their own"

Bard was a bit fascinated. "So the professor didn't approve of your show?"

Doctor Berg sighed. "No, he didn't. He did loathe it, but I don't blame him for that, he is a child of a different era, He was taught in a different manner but he has gotten stuck in his old ways, like a fossil, stuck in sediment."

Thran saw that the doctor did look very dishevelled still. "I see, but we have to ask you, where were you last night?"

The doctor scoffed. "On a flight from Greenland to here, with a short detour to Iceland. I was helping out at an excavation site, they have found a huge Liopleurodon and needed someone to confirm the species."

Thran did look fascinated again. "Can you confirm that in any way?"

Doctor Berg shrugged. "Call the airline, I almost caused a scene you see, we hit an air pocket over the great lakes and I accidentally spilled half a cup of coffee on the lady sitting next to me. She was screaming bloody murder, one should think it was napalm and not luke warm coffee. "

Thran smiled. "Okay, so you arrived here when?"

The doctor yawned. "Too late, way too late, I arrived at 9:30 and I have been in bed since then, I didn't even take a shower, I feel as if I have been pulled through a mangler."

Bard tried to grin. "Nasty flight?"

The doctor made a grimace. "You have no idea, that air pocket was just the start, turbulence from hell, a plane which was old when the Wright brothers made theirs and the food they served must have been found in some Egyptian tomb. It did smell and taste like dust!"

Thran had to grin. "Alright, so you didn't murder the professor, do you know if he had any enemies, private ones?"

Doctor Berg made a new grimace, even nastier than the last one. "Enemies except other scientists? Gee, the man didn't know what it meant to have a private life but there is this one incident…"

He did lean back into the chair. "It was two years ago, we were at a conference together and Professor Underhill got a phone call in the middle of a lecture, he did leave the room and he did look very upset. I did follow for I needed a bathroom break and he was almost shouting at his phone, saying something about restraining orders and not wanting to see somebody ever again"

Thran stared at Bard. "A restraining order?"

Bard nodded. "That means that he must have been in contact with the police, and somebody able to get such a reaction has to be somebody he didn't like at all"

Doctor Berg did look very tired. "Do you have the professors home address? If not I have it here, and a spare key. He gave it to me once, in case I needed to borrow some of his books, he was very decent that way, he would never stand in the way of others when they needed to access new knowledge"

Bard fished his notebook out of his pocket. "I don't have it so it would be nice yes"

The doctor gave them an address and Thran did whistle. "Damn it, really? That is one expensive neighbourhood!"

Doctor Berg nodded. "The professor has written many best selling books about his findings and he had also invested in some very prosperous companies. The man is loaded, probably among the ten wealthiest men of this country but nobody would guess so by watching him. He is infamous for having worn a pair of old corduroy pants to the point where his boxer shorts were clearly visible through the backside of them. He was extremely frugal the old chap, except when it came to his fossils. He spent a lot of money on them"

Thran's eyes were narrow. "It was his only passion?"

Doctor Berg did scoff. "Oh yeah, hell yeah. He didn't know what passion was, I bet he didn't have a passionate bone in his body, except when it came to bones of course. If he ever looked at a woman with desire it must have been the skeleton of a female Neanderthal!"

Thran tried not to laugh and Bard put the note with the address in his pocket. "Alright, I am sorry that we had to awaken you thus but you know…"

The doctor waved a hand, he was yawning again. "The call of duty, yes I know. Tomorrow I have to give a lecture about the teeth of the diplodocus to a class of college students. I suspect that having a root canal done without anaesthesia will be way merrier, and less painful too"

Thran had to laugh and they did bid the doctor farewell and went back to the car. Bard stared at Thran. "The professor was loaded? Who knew! But that phone call? It must mean something"

Thran did nod. "I will take a swift call, Elisa ought to find out if Professor Underhill has called the cops on somebody"

He did open his phone and went aside for the call and Bard stared off in the distance, could this be something else than what they expected? Thran was gone for a few minutes and when he did return he held his phone as if it was some sort of trophy. "Bingo, he has called the cops several times, but the name of the person is hidden. God knows why!"

Bard frowned. "What? That isn't normal?! We ought to have access to such files?"

Thran shook his head. "Not this time, apparently the professor didn't want the name of the person made public"

He put the phone away. "And it was only a few times, four as a matter of fact. But Elisa did find something else which is worth checking out"

Bard felt a bit curious. "What?"

Thran got into the car. "Apparently the professor was really loaded, he was in short filthy rich but he hardly ever spent money. But there is one payment each month, the same sum for years."

Bard did buckle in. "Oh?"

Thran chuckled. "The westfarthings retirement home, it isn't far from here. I think we ought to pay it a visit."

Bard blinked. "You cannot be serious? Does he have living relatives?"

Thran nodded. "He wasn't as fossilized as he appeared to be."

Bard started the car, he did speed into the traffic and felt that this was going somewhere now. Thran leaned back into the seat. "I told Elisa to check the professor thoroughly, she may find something else too"

They drove for half an hour and stopped at the retirement home, it was a fancy one, more like a luxury hotel than an ordinary place to live for pensioners and Thran did whistle. "No wonder that payment was grand. This place is expensive."

They walked up to the reception where a very pretty lady in a nurse's uniform was standing, smiling as if her life did depend upon it. "Yes, may I help you sirs?"

Her voice was honey sweet and Thran put on his most professional smile. "Yes, I think you may. We are from the police, we understand that professor Underhill has a living relative here at this facility?"

The woman did frown. "Ah, yes, but I am afraid that we cannot give any information of that nature to people without the permission of Professor Underhill himself"

Bard showed the badge. "I am sorry to inform you that the good professor did join the dinosaurs last night, He is gone and we do need to check everybody associated with him."

She gaped, then her eyes got wide and she put her hand over her mouth. "Oh my…Oh no, that is…how terrible!"

Thran sent her a cool smile, she was overreacting and he did already guess that she was a person who does like attention. She was probably placed in the reception because she was pretty, not because she was smart. "So, who is it that lives here?"

She tried to look professional again. "Ah, that would be Professor Underhill's older brother, Bartholomew, he has lived here for twenty years"

Bard did tilt his head. "Twenty years?"

The woman nodded. "Yes, the professor was the last child to be born to his parents, but they had twelve in all and he was born almost fifteen years after the last one, he was a bit of an accident you may say. Bartholomew was the first born, he was almost thirty when the professor was born and he is 96 now!"

Thran stared at Bard. "Jeeez, they did know how to breed back then"

The receptionist did smile again, she did look a bit more confident now. "I can get Bartholomew's caretaker to come here?"

Thran nodded and the smile became a bit more friendly. "That would be nice thank you"

After ten minutes a young man wearing a white uniform came to their aid, he was obviously a nurse and he did smile and shake their hands. Thran immediately knew that this was a person who did truly care about his patients, and that he tried to do his best. He did present himself as Georg and he did lead them towards an area of the facility which was sealed off. "This is the area where we keep people suffering from dementia. I am sorry but Bartholomew is very ill, he does barely speak and it appears that he lives in his memories most of the time"

Thran sighed. "I have seen the damage it does to the human mind yes, it is devastating"

Georg nodded slowly, there was sadness in his eyes. "Bartholomew is very fragile, he was in an accident in his early 70's and broke his hips and back so he has been chained to a wheelchair ever since and the professor has paid for his care. They didn't really see eye to eye but the professor is a very decent man, he did love his brother still"

Bard was curious. "They didn't see eye to eye? Why?"

Georg did unlock the door using a card. "Bartholomew was a practical person, he believed in creating things, in doing things which did benefit everybody. The professor on the other hand was all about knowledge and Bartholomew wasn't really all that intellectual"

Thran was staring at the corridor they entered, it was very cosy but they could clearly see that this was a ward for people who were losing themselves. There were nothing there which could be used as a weapon and the doors all had huge signs on them and could be locked from a central station. "So what did Bartholomew do with his life?"

Georg smiled. "He was an architect, created houses. The professor didn't understand that sort of lifestyle but he never tried to make his brother feel bad about himself, he just thought that gaining knowledge ought to be the ultimate goal of everybody"

They entered a room with a huge window, the facility had a sort of garden placed in the middle between the buildings and they saw several huge trees and some bushes. It did look very nice. Thran sent Bard a warning glance. "Let me talk, I know how to deal with such cases. We need to know who the professor wanted a restraining order for"

There was one person in the room, sitting in a wheel chair, he was covered with a blanket and Bard had to stare, the man was really truly marked by his age. The skin was thin and wrinkly and the eyes distant and blurred, he was rather sure that the man was blind. Georg did approach the man very slowly and with care. He did kneel down. "Bartholomew? There are some nice people here who want to ask you some questions about your brother?"

The old man did turn his head, it was a miracle that they didn't hear a creaking sound for he did look almost like a mummy. "About my brother? What brother?"

The voice was so low and thin it was hard to hear anything. Georg was almost shouting. "The professor"

The old man scoffed. "The dry old rat? Agh, ask ahead, what has he gotten himself into now? Has he been tricked yet again?!"

Thran sent Bard a quick glance. "No sir, it is nothing like that, we just want to know if there was somebody in his life he didn't like, we have heard that he got a restraining order made regarding one person?"

Bartholomew spat, he coughed and then he spat again. "He never should have signed those papers, goddamn it, leeches. They are all leeches. It wasn't him, everybody could see that, it was a lie, a fraud. But he signed, oh he did yes he did and he paid and paid and what was the thank he got? "

Bartholomew was blinking and his eyes slipped out of focus and he seemed to go asleep and Georg sent them a glance filled with apologies. "I am sorry. He is…not doing well. He won't speak again today I fear"

Thran nodded. "I see, is it just the dementia or?"

Georg did show them the way out of the room. "No, he has had two strokes, and a heart attack, and he has got cancer. It is untreatable so it is just a question of time but he is hanging on, tough old chap"

They walked down the corridor and an elderly gentleman with a cane wolf whistled at Thran and tried to grasp his rear. Georg did look mortified. "I am so sorry!"

The old man cackled and whistled again and shouted a suggestion so obscene it made Bard blush desperately. "Don't pay attention to him. Mr Brewster is a lewd old fart but his eyesight is terrible. He thinks everybody with long hair is a woman"

Thran didn't seem to react at all but Bard knew him, he was shocked. They left the ward and Georg shrugged. "I am sorry about that last incident, did you get anything useful out of it?"

Thran smiled and shook his hand. "I do believe that we did, thank you so much"

They exited and Bard stared at his partner. "Did we really get anything useful at all?"

Thran did grin. "Oh we did, plenty. I am rather sure of it."

He did grasp the phone and dialled a number. "Elisa? It is me, Thran. Can you check if there has been other payments made by the professor? Yearly ones? Some time ago? Maybe starting as much as thirty years ago? And check if he has ever been to court"

He did hang up and turned to Bard, his smile was wider than ever before. "They say the professor only had passion when it came to dinosaurs but I have a feeling that he has spent at least one night with Venus"

Bard gaped, then he blinked. "Oh shoot, you are serious?"

Thran nodded. "Back in the days you had to sign several papers if you were pulled into a paternity case and they found that you were the father of the child. I am rather sure that the professor did spread some genetic material of his own, at least once. What Bartholomew did tell me did give me the idea."

Bard had to frown. "It sounds a bit too amazing to be true, are you sure?!"

Thran nodded. "I have long come to the conclusion that when people shun something completely it is because they have some bad experiences with it. The professor didn't bother with a family or women at all now did he. All he cared about were his dinosaurs. It tells me he got bitten once, and badly"

Bard grinned. "Once bitten, twice shy"

Thran waved a finger. "Exactly!"

They got to the car and left the parking lot. Thran did yawn. "Let us stop for lunch, I am starving and I need some coffee, strong enough to resurrect that T-rex."

Bard had to laugh. "Oh yes, black as tar and strong as sin. This has been an odd day for sure"

They did find a roadside restaurant and walked in, the waitress was staring at them both with huge eyes and Thran did wink at Bard. He was used to that sort of reaction by now. They sat down and ordered some food, the place was very nice and the prices high. The food came fast and the coffee was very nice, Thran did drink two whole cups and Bard knew he anticipated a long day indeed. They were just finishing up when Thran's phone rang again. It was Elisa and she had disturbing news, somebody had been breaking into the professor's home, they had to get there asap. Thran sighed and swallowed the last piece of the very tasty pizza they had ordered, no rest for the wicked or so it seemed.

They left a generous tip for the waitress who was close to bowing and opening the door for them and they sped off. The professor did live in a neighbourhood which was neither fancy nor new. The buildings were old and some were abandoned. His house was among the best there and it was old too but it had some charm. It was obviously taken well care of but they both did doubt that he did it all himself. There were two cruisers in the driveway and some people were gathered there, gesticulating like mad. It was obvious neighbours and Thran and Bard did recognize the two officers there. Both did look relieved when the two did approach them. "Bard, Thran, these are neighbours of the late professor. They heard noises"

One of the witnesses was a short woman with her hair in tight curls, she was obese and wearing the most ghastly trouser dress anybody had ever seen, leopard spots on pink. Thran did smile however and the woman did stare at him as if she was seeing an angel. "So, you heard something and called the cops?"

The woman nodded vigorously and a man who had to be her spouse was nodding even more vigorously as if to outmatch his wife. He was thin and scrawny and grey and the exact opposite of his colourful spouse. "Oh yes sir, not only noises, it did sound like Armageddon was upon us poor sinners."

Bard stared towards the house, the front door was clearly broken down and a crow bar lay next to it, somebody had been desperate for sure. "How long is it since you heard it?"

The woman did pout, she did seem annoyed that her husband had managed to say something before she did. "Half an hour, I tell you, we have never heard such racket, this is a respectable neighbourhood, we are not used to such…maladies"

Thran just nodded. "We are grateful that you did call, the culprit cannot be far away"

The woman did smile, it was a lie to say that it made her attractive. Bard and Thran did approach the house, the door was the first victim but not the last one, the place was trashed. And by trashed Bard meant completely demolished. The person couldn't have spent more than ten minutes there and yet the entire place was turned upside down. Thran was gaping and the officer who followed them inside did swear. "Goddamn it, one could believe that a wild hippo has gone amok here."

Bard had to snicker. "Or an Ankylosaurus"

The officer did frown, "An ankylo-what?"

Thran sighed. "The culprit was looking for something for sure, but did he or she find it?"

Bard tried to find a safe path between over tilted bookshelves and crushed china. It was obvious that the late professor had decorated the living room with collectable dinner plates. All with images of dinosaurs on them. There was even a huge bronze statue of a sort of dinosaur there, it was probably extremely heavy and very lifelike. Thran stared at it for a while with a thoughtful expression within his eyes. The computer which was placed on a desk in the corner was turned on, the screen was glowing a faint blue and Thran put on gloves and moved the mouse. "Looks like the person has tried to go through all of the professors files, in a hurry"

Bard turned around, he followed the officer through the house and every room was the same. Shelves tilted, drawers pulled out and the safe which stood in a corner of the bedroom was opened and papers and small boxes were spread all over the floor. The wardrobe was opened and clothes strewn all over and a tornado couldn't have made much more of a mess in there. No wonder the neighbours had heard the racket and believed that it was the end of the world. Thran frowned as they returned to the living room. "I wonder if this was more than one person"

He turned to the officer. "Ask the neighbours if the professor had a car? I saw none in the garage?"

The officer did leave the living room and Thran took a deep breath. "I do not like this at all, the murder, this devastation. The person behind this is desperate and deranged, if we only knew what he or she is after."

They left the house and the officer approached them. "The professor had two cars, one he used to go to work and a very old classic one, a 1969 Mustang. It was a very nice car and one he rarely used."

Bard sighed. "It isn't here now so I guess the burglar did take it. Goddamn it, those are not cheap"

The officer nodded. "Yes, they are rare. According to the neighbour it is a beauty, very special"

Thran was thinking very hard. "Put out a wanted message to everyone, describe the car. We need to find these people now!"

Bard frowned and Thran nodded. "It cannot be just one person, nobody can trash a whole house that fast alone"

Bard had to agree, they were heading towards the car when Elisa rang again. "Guys, get here, asap! I have news!"

Thran did look a bit startled, Elisa didn't usually sound that eager. "You cannot tell us over the phone?"

Elisa's voice was shrill. "Nope, get here! You need to see this!"

They got into the car and drove back to the city and when they reached the office there were IT people everywhere. Elisa did grin from one ear to the other. "The internet is back, praise every God in the books. I found something really interesting you see"

She opened her laptop and turned it towards them. It was an old newspaper article and the headline was fat and obviously meant to catch the eye of the public. "The case of Ms Dale's claim, who did father her child? The scientist or the preacher?"

Bard had to laugh. "Oh my, talk about diversity when it comes to bed partners!"

Thran sat down and did read through the article. "Oh my, this is juicy stuff. Apparently this Ms Dale was a bit of a hussy. She did drag two guys to court this time but she had two more kids before, both with father unknown."

Bard leaned forth. "Really?"

Thran turned to Elisa. "Do me a favour, check the name of this preacher will you? I have a hunch here"

Elisa sat down by another computer and went to work and Thran did continue to read. "Apparently she had seduced both those men on the same weekend, during a sort of festival. And here is the interesting part. Neither did confess to being the dad, the preacher had used a condom and the professor claimed that she had more or less raped him while he was out drunk. But the professor who wasn't yet a professor then was talked into agreeing to the fatherhood, the preacher was afraid he would lose his job and offered a very nice reward if he was let off the hook. He knew somebody who knew somebody and managed to get the scientist into a very nice position at the museum"

Bard just gaped. "Really?"

Thran did grin. "The journalist was digging for dirt and found it for sure. So the father of the kid could be anybody really."

Elisa did wave her hand. "There is more, look at this!"

They went over and Bard had to stare at Thran. "Goddamn it! I understand what Bartholomew did mean now, leeches for sure"

Thran had a cold expression on his face. "That Dale woman must have been a genuine piece of work, is it even possible?"

Elisa nodded. "Yes, back in the days you could make two separate doctors write a baby's birth certificate. And if you were a good liar you could make each one add a different name for the dad."

The article on the screen told of the bankruptcy and downfall of a certain preacher. The man had lost everything and had to leave for some distant congregation on some island to the north to make a living there. Bard swallowed. "She targeted wealthy men?"

Thran nodded. "Yes, and managed to get multiple men registered as the father, so she could approach them later on and press them for money. But it did backfire with the professor and the preacher, the preacher bought his way out of the mess and the professor wasn't really much of a breadwinner, as so she must have thought. She probably never anticipated that it would make it all the way to court, most would just pay up to avoid a scandal. I guess she picked the wrong guys. Preachers are usually rather wealthy and a scientist must have sounded like somebody who was well off too"

Elisa nodded. "I checked the finances of the professor again, he did pay child support for eighteen years, he didn't make much money back then so it wasn't much he did pay. These days it is of course different"

Thran stared at Bard. "I know what they were searching for. How old is the kid now?"

Elisa looked at the screen. "Thirty two I think? It is a woman, first name Theresa. She has two brothers, or rather half brothers. Eamunn and Bill"

Thran did nod. "Send out a bolo for those people, I bet they did murder the professor"

Bard still felt a bit confused. "Why?"

Thran sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "Greed, listen, if the professor really is Theresa's father she is his heir, he did sign the papers remember? That is good enough, you don't need a DNA test if you have a written evidence of paternity. But the question is of course, who has those papers?"

Bard snapped his fingers. "The professor!"

Thran grinned. "Most likely yes, he was obsessive with documenting everything, he would never have tossed anything away. He had to have those papers with him somewhere. It is very likely that he got all the papers from the court case, and kept them too. And if the woman is to get any inheritance she needs them, it is not very likely that the court gave the mother any copies, they weren't stupid back then."

Elisa did frown. "But he did pay for child support, for eighteen years? That ought to be enough?!"

Bard saw that Thran was scrolling through the stuff Elisa had found. "Not if there is another birth certificate out there, one with another man written down as the father. That means that a DNA sample will be needed to make sure who it was and if the professor isn't the father after all? Then bye bye money"

Elisa blinked and her eyes were huge. "Could the professor have gotten hold of those papers? If Ms Dale really did forge the birth certificates?"

Thran did touch the screen with his finger. "Look here"

They were inches from a severe head butting as they bent over. "Oh my!"

It was a picture of an auction. In the background they saw a tall thin person bending over some crates with papers and the headline said. "Huge yard sale at the property of reverend Smith"

Elisa was intense. "This was just a few years ago, the reverend lost everything and the professor must have gone there and managed to get the papers somehow!"

Thran nodded. "I think the two men had seen through the charade by then, remember the restraining order? I bet it was for the daughter, or alleged daughter. The preacher wasn't a suitable target anymore, he didn't have any money remember? The professor must have known that it was all a scam, and the preacher did probably realize that they both had been used"

Elisa scoffed. "Who does such a thing?"

Thran got up. "Somebody cunning and ruthless and without scruples. I bet the professor didn't mind paying child support, but I bet they did contact him trying to get more when they realized that he was rich"

Bard closed his eyes. "Wonderful!"

Elisa scoffed. "And if he went to some court with a birth certificate stating that the preacher was the father and not him they would have to repay it all right?"

Thran grinned viciously. "Yes indeed, and they would lose the inheritance."

Bard frowned. "So the daughter was probably the one who did kill him? Or do you think she had help?"

Thran shrugged. "She had help, I am rather sure of it. I don't think she intended for him to die though, it must have been an accident. They would need all the papers before they could get rid of him"

Elisa sort of giggled. "Premature death"

Bard had to grin. "Exactly"

Thran found his gun and he did also hand Bard's over to Bard who took it with narrow eyes. "Do we need it?"

Thran nodded. "Yes, we are dealing with people who are making a living based upon fraud. I do not like this at all, it is always nice to be safe."

Elisa was typing like mad. "I have an address here, I have back traced the payments, Theresa was Theresa Wilders when he did pay child support for her and she lived in 9-06 Goldbirch alley"

Bard was thinking fast. "It is a rather respectable neighbourhood, but not very high end."

Thran got his jacket. "Let's go, we need to visit this lady if that is where she lives now. Send some cruisers in that direction too, I don't want to take any chances."

They were about to go outside when one of the ladies who did monitor the phones stuck her head out of the door. "Bowman? Oropherion? We just got a call from the professor's bank, somebody tried to use his credit card in an ATM over at main street twenty minutes ago. Luckily the bank has been alerted to the fact that the professor is dead and the cards has been blocked"

Thran snapped his fingers. "ATM machines has cameras, let us check this out"

They ran to the garage and Elisa did tag along, she was curious and she was working on her computer as they were driving. The bank was waiting for them and they were shown straight to the person responsible for the security cameras. He had found the right video and they saw two huge guys trying to use a card which was spat back out several times. They didn't look very happy at all. Thran made a grimace. "They both look as if their fathers were found in the nearby zoo, I have met gorillas who did look less like gorillas than those two."

Elisa did giggle and the security person did look a bit shocked. Thran took a deep breath. "Elisa, send SWAT to the address, if those two goons are there we will need some reinforcements"

They did thank the bank profusely for the help and headed back outside. Elisa got a call from the office, a used cars salesman had just notified them that two rather shady gentlemen had tried to sell him a very nice old Mustang, without papers. Luckily he did recognize it and realized that it was stolen. Thran took a deep breath. "They are desperate for money, why?"

Bard shrugged and sat down, he got the car seat on. "Drugs?"

Thran nodded. "Or anything really, Elisa, see if the address is the right one, we cannot afford some blunders now"

Elisa got to work again and after some minutes she did confirm that the woman known as Theresa Wilders did live at the address still. Her mother Ms Dale had passed away some years earlier and left her the house. It wasn't a very long drive but one spent in tense silence. They had no idea of what to expect.

The swat team was waiting for them some blocks away from the address, the black van was not exactly hard to spot and Thran and Bard got a flak vest each. Elisa was told to stay with the car no matter what happened and she did look a bit nervous. The house was probably expensive once upon a time, now it did look like an open sore compared with the neat houses it was surrounded by. It was more or less falling apart, it couldn't have been taken care off for years and the front yard did resemble the city garbage dump. A couple of dogs were tied to a tree each, they were mangy and thin and barking constantly. The windows were covered with plywood and if it hadn't been for the garbage and the smell it could have been an abandoned building.

Bard took a very deep breath, the guys from SWAT were right behind them and Thran did look very intense. "We move straight in, do not hesitate and do not try to speak to anybody in there before they are properly subdued. We are talking about somebody capable of murder"

The team did nod, they were top trained soldiers and moved swiftly to every door, awaiting the final orders. Thran saw that the team leader prepared a smoke grenade just in case, then he did bark a short order and the team did kick in the doors, swarming into the house only to be stopped by what could only be described as a monumental obstruction. The house was full, and not only in the ordinary meaning of the word. Each available square foot was stuffed with something, from floor to roof. It was boxes and bags and the smell was indescribable. The SWAT guys wore gas masks as a safety precaution but both Thran and Bard had to stay back, the smell made their eyes water.

They did however hear somebody shrieking in there somewhere and there was a sort of tunnel in there, narrow and very rackety and probably unsafe but the two smallest members of the SWAT team did snake their way through the passage. Others did search the rooms and the team leader did deliver the information they found to Bard and Thran. "The smell is from the toilet, it is…horrendous"

Thran had come into contact with hoarders before, but this was over the top. You couldn't have fitted a box of handkerchiefs into the rooms, they were solid. There was some loud screams and intense cussing and they heard the sound of things being tossed but after five minutes the two SWAT guys did haul a woman out from the passage way. Thran had to stare at her, she was tiny and scrawny and she didn't resemble the professor at all, that was for darn sure. She did in fact look a lot like the preacher who had bought his way out of the paternity case. She wore a dress which probably was very costly and also very elegant, it was a designer dress Thran had seen worn by some celebrities but she had to have misunderstood things if she did believe that it would look glamorous on her skinny body. It did look as if somebody had wrapped a towel around a scarecrow. She did scream and swear and the SWAT guys were struggling to constrain her until the team leader did place her in handcuffs. Thran did approach her and his eyes were very stern. "Theresa Wilders? Where were you last night?"

The woman stared at him, her eyes did speak of years of insanity. She wasn't really much more than an animal at that moment. "Here, I was here, where else would I be?"

Bard tilted his head. Her pockets did bulge and he walked over and pulled something out of them. It was latex gloves. Several pairs of them. "Really? I think those gloves will be found to be the type they use at the museum when they work with fragile fossils."

The woman let out a shriek, she did look like a banshee with the wild hair sticking in every direction! "So what? It isn't as if it is closed to the public now is it?"

Thran smiled, the smile was dangerous. "Listen missis, I am the person who will evaluate you before a trial. If I say so you will spend the rest of your life shitting yourself while you count pink elephants, yes, I can put you into a straightjacket and tell them to toss the key down the drains. So speak, or face the consequence"

The woman tried to spit but the two guys holding her were too strong, they bent her over. She growled. "Alright, fuck this! I did it, he deserved it. Goddamn bastard, he had it all and he didn't let me have any of it"

Bard felt angry. "The professor did pay for you for eighteen years, even if he isn't your father. I think that is very noble and generous"

The woman sneered. "Oh but he is my dad, we just need the papers. What use does he have for all that money anyway. I need it, I need it all!"

Thran rolled his eyes. "Oh I see that, your mother did use men to get money didn't she? She made a living suing people for child support"

Theresa nodded, there was wild glee in her eyes. "Yes, mom was smart, mom was clever. But that goddamn professor, he was too smart. He saw through it. The preacher was broke and mom wanted me to get more, but the professor did refuse to pay more than he had. Frugal old fart"

Thran was smiling, he had a tape recorder in his pocket and it was on right now, recording everything. "So you broke into his office to find the fake birth certificate which confirmed him as the father didn't you?"

She frowned. "How the hell do you know? Are you one of those psychics? He shouldn't have come back, I needed the house key."

Bard stared at the woman, she was small but there was strength in her lean frame. "How did you kill him?"

She scoffed. "I threw one of those strange rocks at him, it hit his head and he fell. I thought that it would be cool to leave him in the mouth of that large lizard of his. So I lifted him up and pushed him down onto the teeth. It did even make me break a nail, look!

She was pouting like a disgruntled toddler and Thran sighed. "So you did it all alone?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah? I am a woman but I am not weak! I called my bros though, afterwards. We had to find those goddamn papers, he got them from the preacher when he went broke and the preacher did snatch them from mom. The bastard was planning on suing her back, for slandering his name, what do you give me?"

Bard and Thran stared at each other, both smiling slightly. So the preacher did have a conscience after all, and the professor had to have been in contact with him after all.

Thran tilted his head. "Well, did you find the papers?"

The woman shook her head. "No, but I am his heir, I am gonna inherit it all, every single dime."

Thran did reach into his back pocket and pulled out a small piece of folded paper, he held it up. "Well, look no further for here it is, or rather, they are."

Bard frowned. "The fuck?!"

The woman let out a screech which would have made a pterodactyl green with envy, she tried to raise her hands to claw at the papers but she didn't get very far. Thran smiled. "The professor was a very clever man, when we did check the mess you and your family left behind I came to thinking about his one true passion. Dinosaurs. He loved them, they were his life. And there was one thing you didn't manage to topple over."

Bard suddenly remembered the statue which had been placed at the back of the living room, a sort of raptor which was cast in bronze. It had to weight a lot for the animal was three foot tall and the base of the sculpture was massive. Thran smiled, a sharks grin. "The papers were hidden in the base of the sculpture. Here it is, the evidence. You are not the professor's daughter, nor are you his heir. Your dad is a preacher who died two years ago somewhere in Nova Scotia, dead broke and from a nasty case of testicular cancer. If there are several birth certificates with different fathers for one single child a DNA sample is mandatory before any inheritance is being paid out."

She howled, writhing like a worm on a hook. "It isn't fair, it isn't fair. I need those money, I need them. I need to buy what I need!"

Thran did point at the packed hallway. "I think you have all you need, more than enough. You have enough stuff here to feed a third world country if it is all sold again, which it will be"

She went beet red. "No! It is mine, it is all mine, it is mine, you cannot!"

Thran sighed and the SWAT soldiers did haul her outside, she did look even worse in broad daylight. Thran sent her a rather harsh look. "You tried to squeeze more money out of him didn't you, even after he was done paying child support"

She just pouted and Bard had a very odd expression within his eyes. "You didn't follow your mother's recipe now did you? No kids to use for monetary gain. So what did you use if I may ask?"

Theresa did suddenly look triumphant. "You will never find out, he was too stubborn though, he just laughed at me. But I had the last laugh!"

Thran shook his head. "Oh I wonder, I really wonder. No more designer suits, but as they say, Orange is the new black and it looks good on everyone!"

Theresa laughed, a hysterical laughter. "My brothers will free me, just you wait and see"

As if on cue they heard the sound of a powerful engine and the SWAT team did push everybody back indoors, they had their rifles ready. The Mustang became visible at the end of the road and it was speeding, then the driver saw the black SWAT van and hit the breaks violently before trying to gain speed again. The car did jolt forwards, then it did cough and sputter and it did stop. The two men inside were frantically trying to get the engine back among the living but to no prevail. It was dead, the car just stood there and within thirty seconds the car was surrounded by soldiers in black wielding assault rifles.

The two in the car held their hands up and were dragged out and thrown to the ground before they were brutally bound. Theresa was wailing the whole time, accusing her brothers of being cowards for not fighting their way out to save her. Any attempt at resisting would have left both men looking like a kitchen sieve so it was a smart move to surrender. The SWAT guys were edgy and trigger happy, the house was creepy enough to affect even their nerves.

A cruiser came to pick up Theresa and a small van picked up the two men, they were obviously not among the sharpest tools in the shed, they were firmly under the heel of their sister and had done just what she ordered of them. It was not very likely that they would be charged with anything more than theft and burglary. Theresa on the other hand would face murder charges and also possibly charges regarding extortion and fraud.

Elisa was waiting for Bard and Thran, she held her laptop up as if it was a banner. "Lo and behold, the professor's lawyer called me while you were in there. In case of his death all his money and belongings are to be donated to a foundation meant to give scholarships to future palaeontologists. And there is more"

Thran saw that Theresa was being pushed into the cruiser, she was still shrieking. That woman was mad with capital letters for sure. "Oh?"

Elisa was grinning like a cat who has spotted a whole bowl of cream. "The professor did gather all the attempts at extortion and filed them carefully, letters, phone calls, everything. The lawyers are gonna have a great time with it."

Thran did look curious. "So, what was her approach? What did she try to use against him?"

Elisa giggled. "Oh, first she tried to go for the "my mother was a minor when you fucked her" approach "pay up you pedophile fucker" When that didn't work she tried to claim that he was "attracted to his dinosaurs", both necrophilia and zoophilia in a rather unbelievable combo. She really tried everything but he was not easy to convince. She did try extortion on the preacher too, the classical "You like the choir boys now don't you" trick but when he lost all his money he was left alone. Until he decided to contact the professor again to get even with the past once and for all, handing over all the fake papers he had managed to get hold of."

Bard frowned. "I just wonder about one thing though, why did the professor agree on being registered as the father when he wasn't?"

Elisa smiled. "He had told the lawyer about that. He had no desire to get a family, nor kids. He had in fact been dead drunk when Ms Dale…more or less raped him. But we all want to leave some legacy behind us, and this was his one chance to become a father, even in it was only on paper. He was a decent man, he did feel sorry for Ms Dale I think, and maybe he even believed that he would be able to enjoy being a dad, at least a little. Too bad Ms Dale was a fraud artist who used her womb as her breadwinner."

Thran did sigh. "Yes, no wonder he shunned women ever after. No chance of a fake paternity case when it comes to dry old bones"

Bard had to laugh, it gave him some horrible mental images right away. "Don't say that, who knows what may cause a "boner".

Elisa blushed and as a matter of fact so did Thran, it was very attractive.

Theresa was sent straight to a mental institution, she was a hoarder for sure and also deeply disturbed in almost every thinkable manner. She would steal everything which wasn't bolted down so in the end she ended up in isolation most of the time. But there was one oddity though, if there was anything with dinosaurs on it she would go apeshit so everybody were careful with that until one fateful night when the patients were gathered to watch some TV and somebody accidentally switched the channel. The movie shown on the new channel was Jurassic Park and the sight of the T-Rex made Theresa attack the TV screen and then the nurses before she ran off into the corridor where she met a visitor who had brought his five year old son …who carried a plastic Tyrannosaur. The sight made Theresa run straight into a wall and she died two hours later from a ruptured aneurysm in the brain. So the dinosaurs did get their vengeance after all, she had killed the one man who did love them above all else and as payback goes it was probably due to divine intervention, an attempt at acting like a raging Pachyosaurus can only end badly for a thin skulled human being.

Her brothers proved to be model inmates, they never fought, they never caused any trouble and they were in fact very sweet men who unfortunately were a bit lacking when it came to intelligence. They were taken under the wings of the local church and when they had done their time behind bars they became gardeners with a peculiar ability to create absolutely lovely bushes in the shapes of animals. Just not dinosaurs.

And Flora was washed down, rinsed and put back on display and the professor was buried with a tiny fragment of a bone from her in the coffin. After all, it was just right that he ought to rest with his one true love. The palaeontological society were mourning for years, but soon Dr Berg did manage to awaken a brand new interest in the field among the young and when kids went to see Flora the professor would have been very proud to hear how much they now knew about the queen of beasts.


	16. You're all need

Chapter 16 You're all I need….

Albert did straighten his cap, he let his hand run through his short grey hair and sighed. "Well….shit!"

He had been a cop for almost 40 years, he was just a month away from retirement and he had seen it all, or so he thought. He had been there when the mafia was at its most powerful in the late sixties, he had been there when rival MC clubs stalked each other's members with deadly accuracy. He had seen riots and serial killers and he had seen accidents and disasters. He was hardened, but this? He sighed again, took a step back and turned around. Kids always got to him, hells, it wasn't natural if it didn't. Those who said that seeing a dead kid didn't affect them were either dead within or lying their shirt off.

The dead body of a teenage girl had been found in a garbage container outside of a very popular fast food restaurant, an employee had arrived early that morning to fix a broken fan in the kitchen and had found a bag of garbage somebody did forget to take out the night before. She had decided to get rid of it and since it was still very early the garbage truck hadn't been there yet. She had opened the lid to toss the bag inside and voila…there it was, one of the most vile corpses Albert had ever seen. The poor employee was in shock, she had almost passed out and she was still so shaken she had to be taken to the E.R for some medication. The restaurant would have to be closed for today, there could be some sort of evidence in the area but Albert doubted it. Something about this did stink, his instincts were sharp and his intuition told him that this was gonna be one of those cases. He had seen a few before, cases which grasped onto your soul and refused to let go, simply because they were examples of the depravity of the human race. And by God how depraved some people were.

The body had looked like nothing he had seen before, the very position had seemed impossible at first, every one of the long bones of the body had to have been broken and only the face was enough to give a person serious nightmares for years to come. He was sad to say that he had seen worse, because he had but very few times. And it had been accidents, this was done deliberately. The poor girl in the container had suffered, terribly. That was the only thing he was sure of, he had a hard time understanding how a human being is capable of doing something like that to another person. She did look like a doll some disgruntled toddler has vented its anger upon. Judith had just arrived and she was climbing into the dumpster to check for clues. There were already a swarm of CSI technicians arriving at the scene like blowflies and Albert knew that everybody already knew that this was one gory scene. The young and eager did arrive wanting to prove themselves and learn something new and boy would they learn. He doubted that even Judith would have seen anything like this one.

He did stand guard as the coroner did remove the body from the container, he didn't look.

What he had seen among the bags of leftovers and garbage was enough to make him praise his maker that he at this age never ate breakfast, he only had some coffee, raven black with no sugar. That was his fuel and enough to keep him going for a good amount of time. He sighed and heard that the assistant who did accompany Judith said a fond and loud farewell to everything he had eaten that morning. Too bad, the kid was a very sweet fellah Albert hoped would become a good coroner one day. He did need to be hardened but this was a dive straight into the bottomless pit so to speak. Albert wondered what Thran and Bard would find out about this one, it surely was a dead body with quite a tale to tell.

Judith did race back to the morgue and she was putting the pedal to the metal in a manner which caused her assistant to cling to his seat with eyes like dinner plates and a very pale complexion. She couldn't waste any time, the environment in which the body had been left was the absolutely worse one when it came to contaminating evidence and there were flies and maggots already eagerly trying to devour the body. Those dumpsters were hellish, in special the ones outside of restaurants. The amount of food in them would attract everything from flies to racoons and she did still, not fondly, remember the one time somebody had found a body in a dumpster and a whole family of rats had taken up residence within the ribcage of the diseased person. And Mrs Rat didn't enjoy being evicted at all, Judith was glad she had all the vaccines on the list for damnation, rats do bite and they do carry every conceivable disease known to mankind.

They pulled onto the entrance made for the morgue, locally known as "the body bay" and backed the van up to it. It was raised so they could push the gurney straight into the morgue without worrying about stairs and steep areas, it was a relief for the old morgue had one section of floor which did tilt at a 10 % angle and one of the interns had let go of a gurney with a "floater" once and the body had exploded when the gurney hit the wall at the back of the corridor. It had been a bloody mess, quite literally.

Judith had seen a lot over her years and she did already know a lot about this body, it had been no accident and the injuries she had seen were ghastly. They spoke of rage, of hatred and a cold indifference to the suffering of others. She got the body onto the slab and removed the bag, it was in one piece thank goodness but other from that it was gonna be a terrible job. The dead girl was little more than a kid and Judith made a grimace as she started to gently remove the clothes and jewellery, the girl had been well dressed and her style impeccable. She wondered who it was, well, they would find out and then there would be the usual scene, hysterical parents, heart wrenching grief and tears. Judith did never get used to it, perhaps it was for the best.

A couple of hours later Judith stood there by her computer and punched in the findings with a face like stone, she felt the taste of bile in her mouth and she stared over at the now covered body. She had managed to give it some dignity back, it did look like a human body now and the undertakers were good too, they could camouflage even the worst of injuries and make the deceased look almost alive again. Some times she wondered if those guys used some sort of magic for she had seen bodies with literally no face and when the day came for the funeral they did look as if they were simply asleep, and no sign of any injuries. Wax was such a wonderful material.

She heard that Thran and Bard did arrive and some minutes before the CSI technicians had dropped off a few items they had found in the area which could belong to the dead girl. A handbag, a make up bag and a camera. It wasn't Judith's job to evaluate this so she left it all for Bard and Thran. The two men did arrive and she turned around and tried to smile, it was hard to smile and not sneer considering the state of the poor body. She hoped that they really made that bastard who did this pay and pay in a huge way. Bard grinned and Thran did look at the covered body, his eyes were narrow. "Good morning Judith, they say you have something grizzly for us?"

Judith did brace herself, she took a very deep breath. "I do, be glad you weren't here when we did arrive. I have seen it all guys but this…"

She opened the file on her computer and took a deep breath. "Let us start from the bottom shall we?"

Bard did frown. "Bottom?"

Judith looked at him with a tired expression on her face. "Just to start somewhere, this is gonna be a long list guys so stay sharp."

She pulled up some xrays and pointed at them and Bard gasped, Thran opened his mouth and shut it again. "Ah, what…"

Judith tried to smile. "Ever seen the movie "Misery?" This is what happens when you take a hard object and make it crash down onto someone's foot, from the side"

Bard did look slightly green. "Oh…Crap. It looks like confetti!"

Judith nodded. "Yes, yes it does. The small bones of the foot is shattered. Not one is in one piece, it must have been done with some sort of mechanical device for it is so darn uniform. The whole foot must have been crushed simultaneously, or rather, both were"

She moved the x ray. "Shins, shattered too, at least eight fractures along each Tibia and Fibia, it must have been done slowly, one fracture at a time."

Thran grunted and Bard moaned, the very xrays were horrible in themselves. She continued. "Pelvis, no fractures oddly enough but severe tearing of the vaginal tract, it would have been fatal in itself. No DNA left, it was done with a hard object, not a penis. There is also damage to the rectal area and anus, I found some similar tears in the lower gut and something was most certainly inserted there too. Probably the same thing"

Her voice was hard, expressionless like that of a robot now, she was just doing her job. "And then we have the torso, deep lacerations all over, with some sort of acidic chemical added. I have not been able to identify it yet. The lab has gotten samples though. The poor things nipples were cut off, and her breasts…let me just say that the feet isn't the only thing which does look like confetti."

Bard did wet his lips. "What the actual fuck?!"

Thran was listening, his eyes were very hard and there was a certain glimpse within them which told Judith that he was thinking. She did change the Xrays for pictures. "And now gentlemen, the crème de la crème, the reason the poor sod who found this girl probably is gonna lay in a fetal position in a corner for a while."

She opened one of the Jpg's and Bard gasped. "Wh….what..?"

Judith smiled, a stiff grin. "Exactly, what are we looking at"

She pointed at the picture. "The deceased had her face taken off, she was skinned. And it happened when she was still alive. Then the face was reattached, with some sort of glue. The same thing was done to her scalp. Her tongue was stuck to her palate with glue, and also with the help of this which did pierce the tongue and her lower jaw"

Judith pulled forth a metal object, rather long and slender and Bard stared at it with narrow eyes. "What the fuck is that?"

Judith tried to smile. "That my friend is something your daughters would recognize rather well I think, it is a tool used to place embezzlements on finger nails, glitter and stuff"

She found another photo. "The ears were pierced several times, also by a tool used for nail art, and there was glue in her nose, she must have suffered horribly."

Bard was green and Thran stared at the pictures, his features were calm. "I see that her make up is rather untouched?"

Judith grinned, a very sardonic smile. "That is because the culprit reapplied her make up after she was dead, it makes no sense and yet…I have to admit that it was expertly done"

She closed the pictures. "It is the same thing with the hands and arms, Radius and Ulna both broken in several places, very clean fractures but painful ones. The hands…oh man…"

She took a deep breath. "Also crushed, they were like jelly actually. And the finger nails…They were mutilated too. Someone had taken a drill to them, they did look one of them crocheted table cloths"

She looked down. "Too bad, the girl had gorgeous nails really, expertly done"

Bard swallowed. "Do we know her identity?"

Judith felt tired. Like the air had gone out of her completely. "Yes, missing persons got a call one hour ago. It was easy to find her identity and her parents are coming this way as we speak. There was no doubt about who this was"

Thran frowned. "Really?"

Judith sighed. "No, she was Rosa Mae Devon, daughter of Eleanor Bright Devon, successful leader of Devon cosmetics and David Franklyn Devon, CEO of Goodriver boating company. This kid was loaded, and famous"

Bard nodded slowly. "I have heard of Devon cosmetics, Sigrid is using some of their products I think. And Goodriver boating? I think they make luxury boats for the rich and famous?"

Thran nodded. "They do, but not yachts and such, smaller boats, like speedboats and pleasure cruisers."

Judith tilted her head. "Rosa was very healthy, no issues there. She had an old fracture on her left arm, I pulled her files just before you came and it was from when she fell from a swing as a two year old. The only odd thing I did see was this…"

She did open a new folder and found a picture. It was of a hand, it was odd in shape and swollen but on the top there was a pattern visible, the skin did look angry around it and Judith pointed at it. "It is a henna tattoo, the type you get at fairs and such, made with black henna. It is a very nice design but I saw from her medical files that she was allergic to black henna, I cannot understand why she would get a tattoo like that done for it does cause a nasty rash."

Bard stared at the image. "Is it old?"

Judith shook her head. "She had it done less than two hours before she died, the rash haven't had time to develop fully"

Thran did look intense. "Was there any signs of alcohol? Drugs?"

Judith made a grimace. "I have sent the blood off to be tested, but they are a bit slow at the lab today. Apparently some moron did managed to place a beaker with some volatile fluids in the wrong closet, and they had to evacuate until the fumes were gone. The person I talked with claimed that they were close to being gassed like the poor sods at the Somme."

Thran nodded. "For how long was she missing?"

Judith sighed. "Since last night, they saw her at bedtime, half past ten and everything seemed fine. When they got up this morning she wasn't in her bed and her camera was missing"

Bard snapped his fingers. "The camera, is it working?"

Judith did look apologetic. "Sorry, it works yes but the memory is removed, no pictures there!"

Bard swore. "Damnations"

Judith took a deep breath. "There is one thing about this of which I am absolutely sure though, and it is sinister"

Bard sort of shrunk. "Really, worse than this?"

He pointed at the pictures on the computer screen and Judith nodded. "This was premeditated, well planned. It was executed in a manner which kept the victim alive for a long time but in absolute agony."

Thran had been silent, now he nodded, and Bard saw an odd light in his husband's eyes. "Yes, you are right. This killer is a true monster, and very sick. But it is a person without remorse, and an intense hatred. The question here is what it is that the person hates"

Bard shivered. "What do you mean?"

Thran turned around and stared at the covered body. "Was it the victim or something else? Her parents are well known, and business people often get enemies."

Judith shuddered. "Bad enough to do something like that to a kid?"

Thran nodded. "Believe me, I have seen how utterly horrible some people are. Killing kids and pets and even distant relatives to get to someone isn't unusual"

Judith was a bit pale. "Oh God"

Thran tilted his head. "So, was there any sort of trace evidence to be found?"

Judith shrugged. "Like I said, the lab is behind schedule, the CSI technicians brought everything over to them. But I wouldn't place any bet on that, the dumpster was filled with every thinkable substance known to man, from spittle to old rotten tomatoes. Good luck finding anything in there"

All three jumped visibly when a phone suddenly rang and Judith took a quick glance at the two men and crossed her fingers before answering. "Yes?"

They heard voices at the other end and Judith did take notes, she listened very intently and didn't say anything until the person at the other end was done. Then she said a polite thank you and hung up, she turned around to the two investigators. "Rosa had alcohol in her blood, but not enough to dull the pain in any manner. And she did also have a drug usually used by hospitals, before major surgeries. It is used when the patients is already under, it relaxes the muscles to the point where movement is impossible"

Thran cursed. "She felt it all but couldn't move, that is goddamn evil"

Bard swallowed again and again. "Goddamn it. That drug, is it easily available?"

Judith shook her head. "Nope, it is almost impossible to come by unless you are working at a hospital and even then it is something you have to sign wavers to get your hands on. It is very dangerous"

Thran mumbled, "No shit, anything else?"

Judith made a grimace" The glue in her nose and mouth was eye lash glue, and there was some trace left in her…orifices. It was a type of grease used to make hydraulics work, usually found on construction sites. The acidic substance in the wounds was a chemical used to clean grease off engine parts."

Bard just shook his head. "The fractures, could they have been made by some sort of hydraulic equipment?"

Judith nodded. "Yes, most definitely. They are so very precise, so controlled. I would say that the culprit knew exactly how to do this. I did notice that neither of the fractures were open, the skin wasn't broken even a bit"

Thran had a sour expression on his face, as if he had tasted something which did taste very bad. "To make sure that the victim didn't bleed out"

They just stared at each other. "I hope we find some clues when we interview her family and friends, whoever did this…I am for once sad that this state no longer support the death penalty"

Judith's voice was laced with poison and Bard nodded. "Yeah, what sort of monster are we after this time?"

Thran stared off into nothing, "A monster like none other I fear. One with no empathy at all"

They were about to leave the morgue when they heard voices and Judith cringed. It was a woman and a man and they were clearly arguing with the police officer stationed outside the main entrance to the morgue. Judith was about to go over to open the door when it burst open and a woman ran inside. She didn't even look at the three people present, she ran straight to the body and Judith rushed forth to stop her but it was too late. She pulled the sheet off and froze, an absolutely horrible scream could be heard and the woman collapsed onto the floor, shrieking like a banshee. A man came running after her, pale and obviously shocked and he stared at the mutilated corpse and went stiff as a board. The sight was horrible and since the investigators were used to seeing death they didn't react that much but to a lay person it had to be absolutely ghastly.

Judith grasped the woman and pulled her away from the table, Bard grasped the man and manhandled him away too and they placed the pair in a sofa in the reception area, the woman wasn't shrieking anymore, she was sobbing instead and Bard saw that horrible empty expression on her face. The look of a mother who has lost her child, and her reason to live. He had seen it before, it usually ended with something rather bad.

Thran did sit down and his face was suddenly filled with compassion, understanding. The voice slow and spinning and gentle and the husband did stare at him, eyes red rimmed and swollen and his chin did tremble. He was close to tears. "I am Thranduil Oropherion, I work with the police. First of all, we are so terribly sorry for your loss. "

Mr Devon did look up, his face was chalk white. "I…who…who did this…to my…baby"

The voice was hoarse and Thran laid a hand on the man's shaking shoulder. "I assure you Mr Devon, we will do everything in our power to find out but to do so we need your help. Is there anything you can think of which can tell us what happened last night? Do you or your wife have any enemies?"

The grieving father sobbed, his head moving slowly from side to side as if in physical agony. "No, we…we have never had real enemies. I have had people who are unhappy about my success and some customers who have been angry since our product didn't fit their expectations but nobody have…do you think this was because of ME and my wife?!"

Thran shook his head slowly. "No, we just have to cover every possibility. So, last night?"

Mr Devon did wipe his eyes with his sleeve, he did move in a clumsy manner. "God…ah…She went up to go to bed at half past ten, as always. We checked in on her when we went to bed an hour later and she was in her bed, sleeping"

Thran sighed, the oldest trick in the book for sure. Mr Devon did continue. "But she wasn't there this morning when my wife was coming to get her up for school, we called her phone but no answer, and then we called her friends but none had seen her. Then we called the police"

Thran nodded at Bard who took up his phone. "My friend here will send some officers over to your house, just to check that nobody abducted her from her bed"

Mr Devon swallowed hard. "There were no signs of a break inn? Everything was…fine. We have a very expensive alarm system and it was on the whole night"

Thran nodded. "Yes, and still we need to check it, some crooks are very savvy these days when it comes to technology"

He already knew that the girl had left during the night, probably disabling the alarm to sneak out. Mr Devon sighed and tried to control his trembling, his wife was not speaking, she just made these whimpering sounds and Judith did look a bit nervous. It was not a good sign, she probably needed a doctor. "Tell me Mr Devon, did she have any hobbies, something she did enjoy doing? Did she have friends she could have met?"

The poor man tried to compose himself, his hands were trembling. "She…she is an influencer? She started it as mere hobby some months ago but now she has taken it rather far. She was on the verge of being sponsored by some pretty huge companies"

Bard did blink a few times "Influencer? Really?"

Mr Devon nodded. "Yes, she made these videos, about make up and clothes and lately about how to make photographs of your stuff. She is really good at it too"

Thran was listening and his eyes were narrow. "So she was popular?"

Mr Devon nodded. "Oh yes, she had about 200 K followers I think. And got more each day"

Bard swallowed hard and Thran made a grimace. "Okay, I think I know why she left the house then, there was something she was going to take pictures of. Did she have a boyfriend?"

Mr Devon shook his head. "No, she didn't have time to be very social. The blog and the school took all of her time, she still got top grades in spite of all the work she put into the blog."

He sobbed. "I am so proud of her"

Mrs Devon was still shivering and making odd sounds and Judith rolled her eyes and made a discrete gesture. Thran knew what it meant, get out of here. It was obvious that the woman was so deeply shocked medical attention was needed. Thran got up and he grasped onto Mr Devon's hand. "Judith will make sure that you get a place to stay, your wife needs a doctor and she needs it now, she is in shock"

The man nodded slowly, he got up and he was still shivering, Thran did support him discretely. "We have sent people to your house and we will probably go there too, there could be clues to where your daughter was going, and who she was to meet"

Mr Devon just stared with empty eyes and he didn't even flinch when the paramedics Judith had called came to collect his wife and him. He wasn't showing shock as strongly as his wife but he was getting there too, as he sort of understood the situation. It was delayed shock for sure. Bard watched as the couple disappeared out the door, he turned to Thran. "Do you think she was killed because of her blog?"

Thran did shrug. "Could be, there is an insane amount of money in that business, some of the most popular ones earn millions, and if she was a rising star there is no doubt that some people may have gotten jealous, but enough to mangle her like that?"

Bard took a deep breath. "So, what now?"

Judith walked over to a table and took up the stuff the technicians had brought. "Here, take a peek at this. It has been checked for evidence, but there could still be some clues left"

She handed the handbag over to Bard who stared at it with narrow eyes, he saw the discrete gold letters on the front and knew that this little thing cost more than a month's pay. Thran opened the make up bag and took a peek at it. He stared at the items and did look as if he was staring at some sort of alien technology. He pulled out a mascara and made a grimace. "I bet this one item does cost more than my best shoes"

Judith looked at it and grinned. "Yes, but I am rather sure that she got that one for free, as with the rest of the stuff in there. It is all very expensive."

Bard lifted the handbag once more. "Sigrid wanted one of those for her last birthday, I told her that would happen when pigs fly to the moon"

Judith frowned. "Waaait a minute"

She leaned forth and grasped a lipstick from the bag, opened it up. "This isn't the shade she wore?"

She went over and checked the images she had taken. "I was right, it is too dark. She wore a more bright red lipstick"

Bard perked up. "Could it tell us something?"

Judith shrugged. "I don't know, the one who killed her did reapply make up to her face, and did it remarkably well too. But with different colours? It has to mean something. I did sample the lipstick Rosa wore, it could be that it gives some information but most likely not"

Thran did rummage through the make up bag, he had no idea of what half of it was supposed to be. "Look at this"

He held up a small box with a lid covered with what looked like tiny crystals. "Is this powder?"

He opened it and something dropped from the lid, a small black object. It landed on the table with ping and Judith stared with huge eyes. Not at the object, but the content of the box. It was a shimmering powder but there were dark spots in it. "Oh, goody"

She grasped a cotton stick. "Ten quid says that is blood"

Thran put the box down very gently and picked up the object, it was a memory card. "Oh my…Let's take a look at this"

Bard was stepping in one place like an eager horse before the starting gate and Judith stared at the cotton stick, she did look like a predator who has caught the scent of a wounded prey. "I bet she tried to hide something, brave girl"

Thran got his laptop up and opened it, he inserted the card and started working. "Aw feck…it is encrypted"

Bard stared over his shoulder. "It needs a password"

Thran groaned. "Yeah, there are no notes in the bag, with a word written on it?"

Bard shook his head. "No such luck"

Judith smiled. "Go to her place, you have to get there anyhow. You may find something there"

Thran packed up the laptop and sighed. "Will do, we are going to need to speak to her friends too , and everyone who knew her."

Judith held the cotton stick up like a lance. "And I will check this, if it is her blood it proves that she tried to hide something from her attacker"

Bard and Thran went to the garage and took off, the home of the dead girl lay on the other side of the city and it was in the area better known locally as "Gamble hill", this because the first millionaire to build a mansion there did it with money gained on casinos. The home of the deceased girl was fantastic, a very tasteful and elegant villa surrounded by a lovely garden and it had a tall wall surrounding it. Thran did look intense. "I bet there are motion sensors up there, and broken glass too. She went willingly, through the main entrance"

Bard nodded. "Yeah, but where, and why?"

They stopped in front of the house, there were a couple of technicians there already and the two were met by an elderly woman wearing a ghastly gown with floral prints. She had been crying and the apron was full of stains. Thran smiled at her. "And you are?"

The woman blew her nose in a handkerchief. "I am Arlena, I am the housekeeper. Oh what horrible dreadful day, mi Madonna mia, our precious little darling…"

She sobbed and Bard saw that she was very distraught. "Tell me, did you notice anything unusual last night?"

Arlena shook her head. "No, but Ceasar, that is my dog, he got up half past twelve and barked. I thought it was at a racoon, we have them here you see, little bandits. They go in the trash cans"

Bard nodded. "Do tell me, where do you stay?"

She made a gesture. "At the back, servants quarters, very nice place. The family is so nice, so generous. I live well here"

Thran nodded at Bard and they went through the house, the back was just as elegant as the front but there was a small secluded yard with trash cans and they heard a small dog yipping the whole time. There was a gate in the wall behind it, narrow and not very visible but it had an ordinary lock and not some high tech code lock. "She left through this"

Bard grinned. "I was thinking the same. The dog must have heard her, half past twelve then"

They went upstairs and felt slightly guilty for not taking their shoes off, the carpets there were soft and fluffy enough to harbour an entire ecosystem and Bard didn't want to imagine the cost of cleaning it all. Just vacuuming those floors had to be enough work for an entire army. The rooms the girl had occupied were typical of those of a teenager, with one exception. She had one room transformed into a photo studio with lights and backgrounds and all and there was a nice desk with some make up on it and a chair and spot lights. This had to be where she shot her videos.

The two technicians were done going over the rooms and smiled but their faces were a bit dark. "Sir, we didn't find any sign of a forced entry, or an abduction. She must have left alone, with clothes and shoes and all"

Bard nodded. "We have come to the same conclusion. Was there a computer?"

The technician nodded towards a corner, there was a desk there. "There, it is brand new, and costs about half of Thor's annual budget for our station"

Thran snickered and went over, the computer was really a high tech thing, with a key board of the type made by laser light and a huge screen. He turned it on and crossed his fingers as he did insert the memory card into the right bay. "So, let us see here"

Bard cringed. "Ouch, password protection"

Thran took a glance around. "Most people use a password based on something familiar, something they see all the time"

The walls were covered with photos of movie stars, pop idols and so on and there were stuffed animals, cute dolls and what not. It was obvious that she preferred the "Innocent little girl" style even though she was almost seventeen. Thran was thinking and Bard allowed him to do that. Sigrid was not as old as Rosa had been and yet her room was way more mature and she had thrown the dolls and the teddy bears out years ago. Thran got up and walked around, looked at the posters and his eyes were narrow. He stopped at one poster, it was from a movie and showed a young man with dark gothic makeup, leaning against a tomb stone with a crow sitting on his shoulder. "Hmm!"

He got back to the computer and typed inn. "The crow"

Nothing, it wasn't the right word, then he typed Brandon Lee and the screen came to life, bright happy letters danced across it and he smiled. "I was right, that one poster was different from the others, and it was the right one"

He went for the memory card and it wasn't empty, there were files on it. Bard leaned over as Thran started to download them and he grasped an USB pen and transferred it all it too, just to be on the safe side. It was images, rather large ones and Bard held his breath as Thran opened the first one. "Let us see what this is about."

It was a rather dark image, it showed the dead girl leaning against the stem of a tree, she wasn't lighted by any sort of artificial lights but the moon was rather strong and gave her a pale sort of mysterious quality. She wore heavy make up and was posing, a sort of fem fatale posture with a bit of a pout and hooded eyes. The outfit was elegant and not risqué and yet sensual. Bard frowned. "This looks…"

Thran opened a new image. "The same outfit, the same make up, just a different background"

On this image she was sitting on what had to be a rock, there were dark trees behind her and some light in the distance. She did look as if she was challenging someone, chin held high, her face a bit haughty. The pose was powerful. Thran tilted his head to the side. "Know what? These images are very different from the images we see here"

He pointed at the pictures of Rosa she had posted on the wall. They showed her sitting there with some make up in front of her, smiling and being just sweet. "I have an idea, wait a sec"

He went to youtube and her videos showed up right away, he did open one of them. It was a tutorial about how to apply eye shadow if one has heavy eyelids and it was good but she had a very sweet and almost naïve way of addressing the viewer and her face was very youthful and innocent looking. "I was right"

Thran spun around. "The images on that memory card are very different, I think she was planning on going in a new direction"

Bard stared at the room, it was very….pink!

"I see"

Thran shrugged. "She was changing her image, her audience. She was seventeen goddamn it, the blog is probably made for girls younger than her. It is a huge market alright but not as huge as the one for more mature women. I think she was aiming for something new and different. The pictures are speaking of someone trying to transform herself"

Bard stared at the video, Rosa was enthusiastically showing a new type of eye shadow which wouldn't end up inn creases and wrinkles. "I think you are right, but who took the pictures and where was she?"

Thran opened the other images and he froze. The last picture was of Rosa and she sat on the keel of an upturned boat, legs a bit spread and the pose was more sexual than the others. Her expression was also different. Bard saw that his husband did tense up, he did zoom in on the image. "Look, her hand"

Bard squinted. "The tattoo?"

Thran nodded. "Yes, it wasn't on the other images, and her eyes, look?"

Bard leaned inn. "Ah…Oh damnation"

Thran smiled but it was a stiff smile. "Damnation is damn right"

The girls pupils were enormous and her face slack in some way, as if she was very intoxicated. Thran had a wolfish expression on his face. "Do you see where the image is taken?"

Bard shook his head, Thran pointed at the boat. "That one isn't finished, and there are others in the background. It is a warehouse and I bet it is her father's factory."

Bard went pale. "The smaller boats, they use hydraulic presses to shape the hull!"

Thran nodded. "Exactly! So the factory is our next stop"

They were heading back downstairs when they heard a racket from outside, there were shrill voices and screams and they heard that the housekeeper tried to shout something but the front door sounded as if it was pushed open. Thran took the stairs like he was flying and Bard was straight behind him. The hall was being flooded by girls, most were visibly distraught, some were weeping and others did look as if they were in shock. All were in their teens and well dressed and one did see Thran and Bard and let out a cry. "Is it true, is Rosa dead?! Say it isn't so, she cannot be dead!"

Thran raised a hand. "Unfortunately I have to confirm that Rosa is gone yes. And you ladies are?"

The girls let out a unison wail of despair and started howling and weeping like a gang of professional mourners, the housekeeper looked as if she didn't know what to do or think. The door opened again and a girl did enter, her eyes were red and she had been crying for her make up was smeared but she did seem to have some control over her feelings. She took one glance at the two investigators and took a deep breath. "Girls, calm yourselves. Please, let us hear what these nice policemen have to say"

The girls sniffed and stared at her. Bard cocked his head. She was perhaps sixteen or seventeen, not very striking looking, a rather average look but she had the air of somebody who is in control of themselves and her voice was soft and gentle. The girls stared at the two and Thran did throw a glance of obvious gratefulness at the girl. "Like I said, Rosa has passed away, she left her home last night and was found this morning, dead in a dumpster outside a restaurant. Does any of you have any idea of what she may have been up to?"

The girls shook their heads but the last arrival stepped forth, she made a sort of a smile. "I may have some idea, I am Miranda Westley by the way, I was in Rosa's class. We were not close but I did speak with her every now and then"

Thran stared at her. "Great, so, what do you have in mind?"

Miranda sat down on the couch, very elegantly and she sent a sympathetic glance at the housekeeper. "Girls, don't bother the poor old woman, go back home, you will hear whatever you need to hear soon enough. There is nothing here"

Some sent her some grumpy looks but they sauntered out of the door and Miranda smiled at the two men again, her face did reveal grief but also determination. "I will try whatever I can to help you gentlemen, Rosa was a wonderful girl and whatever happened to her, I am sure she didn't deserve it"

Bard smiled back. "That is very kind of you miss, so, what can you tell us?"

Miranda swallowed. "Rosa was getting tired of her present style, she wanted to change her image, to do something more edgy. It wasn't that it wasn't paying to run a pink blog but let's face it, she was seventeen and well, she couldn't pretend to be a kid forever"

Thran nodded. "So she wanted to go in a different direction?"

Miranda nodded. "Yes, I heard her claim that the constant make up videos were choking her, it wasn't what she wanted to use her creativity on. She wanted to make more artsy stuff, a bit gothic perhaps? She even showed me a picture of a gown she was gonna wear for a video shoot and it was really cool but not very sweet"

Bard leaned back a bit. "Did she have others she did speak to about her projects?"

Miranda shrugged. "Rosa is very outgoing, she spoke to a lot of people. You saw that mad crowd yes? She has fans who adore her, look online, I bet she did discuss her plans with many of them"

Thran nodded. "But aside from that. Is there someone she would trust enough to work as a photographer for her?"

Miranda looked curious. "Photographer? No, she didn't hire anyone, ever. She didn't trust that others would share her visions. She did work alone, always"

Thran looked at Bard, the photos from the previous night was taken by somebody else than herself, there was no way she had used a camera tripod. Thran smiled at the girl, she was obviously eager to please and help and her somewhat anonymous looks told them that she wasn't one of the jet setters for sure. "Thank you, is there anything else you can think of?"

Miranda shook her head and her eyes got narrow. "No, or…I am not sure if this is important but…"

Thran smiled at her. "Go on miss, don't be afraid"

She did bite her lower lip. "I know that one other blogger was giving her some hard times, calling her names, making threats even. I think he or she called themselves Rubysweet"

Bard did make a note of the name. "That is great, thank you. We will look into it"

Miranda just smiled. "Let me know if you come to the school, I can show you her locker and stuff"

Bard nodded. "That would be nice, I am sure we will need to talk to her teachers and so on"

Miranda grinned, her eyes were running still and she sniffled. "That would be Mrs Grover and Ms Delacrux, Rosa had some extra classes, she has problems with math"

Bard did wrote down the names. "That is great Miranda, thank you!"

The girl was practically beaming. Bard got the impression that she was someone used to be ignored by everybody else. She got up and sent them a sweet smile. "I am at school tomorrow, I will think about Rosa and may I call you if I remember something new?"

Thran nodded. "Of course, here is my card, do not hesitate"

She took it almost reverently. "Thank you sir"

She got up and left and Bard stared after her. "Sweet kid, very charming"

Thran did nod. "Yes, and very polite."

He got up. "We need to check out that Ruby Sweet blogger."

Bard took a deep breath. "Let's get to it then"

Two hours later they stood outside of the house of a fifteen year old gay lad who had a solid alibi and was horribly sad that Rosa was dead. He had hated her blog but not her, all because his sister had died from anorexia after having gotten hooked on that sorts of blogs and he wanted the girls to stop idolizing unnatural body ideals. He had been harsh at times and even threatening but it had all been to make Rosa stop accepting sponsorship from certain companies which did nothing to hinder girls from becoming addicted to slimming products and harmful cosmetic surgeries. He was cleared and it was getting late so Bard and Thran had to head home for the night.

Bard was quiet in the car, they had mailed all their findings to Thor and Judith had also added some new info. It had been Rosa's blood in the powder and the lipstick she had been wearing at the moment of death had been a very exclusive brand and colour, one only a very few could afford to buy. The colour was called "Intrigue" and Judith claimed that it was the type of make up which was discrete but of extremely high quality.

Bard proclaimed that Sigrid and Tilda would be banned from watching beauty videos until they were in their sixties and that make up would be banned from the house from now on. Thran laughed and they put the case behind them as they drove up the driveway to their home. They did never bring the work with them home, it was a solid rule.

The next day Thran did sit down with a map of the city and he did stare at it. He put a pin on the Devon house and one at the boat factory and he stared at the area with narrow eyes. Bard sat down next to him. "What are you staring at?"

Thran made a grimace. "She must have walked from her home to the factory, it is a long way to walk, and which route did she take?"

Bard pointed at the map. "See this road here? It is a sort of fair, it is always open, lots of shops and attractions. I bet you could get a tattoo done there"

Thran did tap his pen against his front teeth, it was a habit he had when he was thinking. "Know what, that is possible. There is a park here, not far from her home. The first images must have been taken there."

Bard let his finger follow the possible route. "We need to go there, see if anybody saw her. And if she was with somebody. But we need to talk to the teachers first"

Thran got up. "Yes, and her class too. There could be something Miranda didn't notice, and then we go to the factory, it has to be checked before evidence is ruined, I bet they don't start work until ten since it is a Friday"

They were heading for the door when a roar from Thor did stop them dead in their tracks. "Guys, not so fast, we have another corpse!"

They stared at each other. "Is it not something one of the others can deal with?"

Thor shook his head. "Nope, it is a girl from the same school as the other one, and if she was grizzly, well , you haven't seen nothing yet"

Thran closed his eyes, he just knew it. This case would become a freaking nightmare.

Thor handed them a note with an address on it, his face was grim and his eyes rather dark. "Guys, we need to solve this, asap. If this gets out there will be panic. Kids…people tend to react very badly when kids are the victims."

Thran didn't speak as the two went to the car, his eyes were distant and Bard knew why, this did really affect the profiler, he had probably encountered many bad people over the years but this was probably one of the worst cases he had seen. They drove as fast as they could to the scene of the crime, they were there before even Judith and they saw that the address was a farm just outside of the city. It was a recreational petting zoo and riding school and there were animals all over the place as they drove into the yard. Chickens and geese ran around while some kids tried to herd them to the right pens and some cows were wreaking havoc on the nice flower beds which did line the driveway. A donkey was standing in a fountain and some horses ran around looking very happy. Thran blinked, "Well…I'll be…"

A woman wearing a leather apron and some very dirty overalls came running, she had been crying and she was ashen grey in the face, her hands were trembling and she was short of breath. "You are from the police?"

Thran nodded, "Yes, excuse me but what is going on?"

The woman heaved for air. "The…the bastard who did it…whoever it was released all the animals, we are trying so hard to catch them."

Bard moaned, it was smart, it was extremely smart. They would have no chance at finding any footprints or anything now, every evidence would be contaminated by all the animals. A chicken came racing with a kid in hot pursuit and it did suddenly remember that its ancestors could fly and tried to copy them, it crashed with Bard and fell to the ground making some wheezing sounds. The kid grasped it with glee and ran off to get it back to the coop. The woman did look very apologetic. "I have sent the kids off to catch the animals, takes their minds away from it. Few know…They just know somebody did open all the gates."

Thran nodded. "Good, so…shall we?"

The woman nodded. "I am Glenda by the way, I run this place. We have about twenty kids here today and thank the lord just two of them saw…it. And they are older, more mature. They are inside, I gave them strict orders to not speak to anybody. "

Bard smiled at her. "Very smart of you"

They walked towards one of the stables, they heard horses whinnying and stomping and Thran looked at Glenda. "What…"

The woman swallowed hard. "It is the stable for private horses, most are sports horses and there are some stallions in there. They don't accept the smell…of death very well. But we have only one door and …You will see. We cannot evacuate them, yet"

The stable was well lit and Glenda did take a visible breath before entering the narrow door. The door could of course be pushed open way wider but they saw why she hadn't the moment they turned around. The dead person was hanging on the door. Thran let out a very low sound, a sort of moan and Bard didn't really find the air to make any sounds at all. It was a girl, the same age as Rosa approximately and she had been wearing a riding suit but now she was more or less naked. She had been nailed to the door, quite literally. Her hands and arms pierced by several very long nails, probably from a nail gun and her torso was pierced by a hay fork. The horses were spinning in their boxes, Thran saw many white rimmed eyes and flat ears and one large bay horse kicked his door hard enough to make it bulge outwards. Glenda did look as if she was in a panic. "Please, tell me the coroner is on his way? We have to get this out of here, the horses are going nuts soon."

Thran stared at the mutilated corpse. Nobody had removed this girl's face but what had been done to her was rather similar. Only that it was the other end which had been mutilated. Her body was skinned from the navel and down to mid thigh and her bowels were hanging from the wound. The smell was ghastly. The feet were obviously missing, cut off at the ankles and Glenda did look as if she was about to puke. "Over by that bin…"

She pointed at a bin which did contain brushes and other grooming equipment and they saw a set of tools, a sort of bolt cutter and a hoof knife which did look wickedly sharp. It was blood on both items. Thran swallowed hard. "He or she did remove the girl's feet"

Glenda nodded. "Deidre was an equestrian, she loved horses and lived for horses. Ah…it is customary to remove the hooves from a dead racehorse, to bury them at the track. It is a symbolic thing"

Thran nodded. "I know, I have owned a few over the years."

He stared at the body again. The killer had covered the dead girls face with a sort of black goo and he went a little closer and sniffed it. "Hoof oil?!"

Glenda nodded. "Yes"

Bard tried to think clearly. The girl had probably had long hair for a pony tail was laying on the ground in front of her, and her clothes were shredded into confetti. It did look terrible. And there were bandages on her arms, from her wrists up to her shoulders. "What are those?"

Glenda did cringe. "Ah. It is…it is a sort of medication we use for lame horses, it is a very irritating liquid which does increase the blood flow to an injured area. It isn't used that much anymore, it was animal cruelty and most states has outlawed it. But I had one bottle left in the pharmacy here, I kept it mostly for educational purposes. The kids need to learn how awful people used to treat horses in the old days. It must have felt as if her arms were being dipped into liquid fire. "

Thran nodded. "But now I bet the coroner is just around the corner, the kids shouldn't see that she is arriving, can you get them away from the front yard somehow? Do you by the way know how long it has been since somebody was in her last?"

Glenda gaped, she did look a bit overwhelmed. "Uh…Deidre arrived half past seven, as usual. That bay horse is hers, it is an eventer and she was going to ride him as usual. I didn't see her at the track so I sent two of the kids in here to see if everything was alright and...well, the rest is history. I saw her like this at…"

She did take a peek at her watch. "8:35"

Thran sighed. "She had been hanging there for less than an hour then, and you heard nothing?"

Glenda nodded. "But the kids, oh Gods, what do I say?"

Bard was thinking fast. "Say that a stray animal got into the stable and died here, a coyote or something. That explains the horses, and send them off to the lake, tell them…"

Glenda did brighten up. "There are minnows in the lake, we often catch some to feed the ducks and geese. I can tell them to catch some, to lure the birds back into the coop. "

Thran smiled. "Good, do it now"

Glenda ran off and Thran and Bard stared at the corpse again, Thor had said that this was more grizzly than Rosa and he was right, it was…brutal. The blood had formed a huge pond underneath the girl and flies were already having a feast there. Bard looked at the body from several angles. "The culprit must be strong, it takes strength to pierce a body like that…with a hayfork!"

Thran nodded. "Yes, and cut through the ankles with a bolt cutter too. I do not understand anything at this moment."

Bard frowned. "Ah Thran, her mouth?"

Thran took a pair of gloves out of his pocket and did gently pull the lower jaw down. He backed away and Bard held a hand in front of his own mouth. Her teeth had been removed, or at least, some of them. Her front teeth were there but not the ones on the side and her mouth was stuffed full of what could only be oats. Thran turned around, his shoulders stiff and his expression one of anger. "I see now, oh I see the pattern."

Bard frowned. "The pattern?"

Thran nodded. "Yes, yes damn it. The killer takes what they love the most and turn it against them, in mockery. Rosa was killed and had her face removed but also restored, as somebody else's. Deidre here loves horses, she has been…mutilated and slaughtered like one, almost transformed into one."

Bard felt his mouth go dry. "I fear that you are right…"

Thran did look wild, his hair flying around his face like a lions mane. "We need to go to the factory, I have a feeling here"

He seemed almost frantic and Bard took his hand. "Whoa there, calm yourself. Judith is on her way remember? We cannot leave until she has arrived."

Thran took a very deep breath. "Alright, fine. But goddamn it, I don't think this monster is done yet"

Bard frowned. "Why not?"

Thran shrugged. "Call it intuition, it is almost symbolic, ritualistic. And so very methodical"

Glenda returned, she did look a bit better now. "The kids have all fled the scene so to speak"

Bard nodded. "Good, very good, tell me, could somebody have entered the stable unseen?"

Glenda nodded. "Yes, the back of this building is facing a piece of the local woods, there is a popular jogging track there and we have a small door in the back, it is in the tack room and usually it is very well locked. "

Thran stared at her. "Check it, now!"

Bard followed the woman to the back room, it was very small and very full, saddles and tack and equipment filled each square inch of the room and there was hardly room to stand. The door was indeed small, barely a door at all and Glenda checked the lock. It was locked but Bard could see that the lock had been opened recently, there were scratches in the layer of rust and the mechanism was shiny too. He sighed, the dust was gone from it, it had been wiped down, no fingerprints there.

When they returned the huge van Judith did drive was already parking outside and she came out of it like a bat out of hell, pulling on gloves and grasping her kit as she went. Her assistant came behind her, looking slightly less enthusiastic. Judith did stop as she saw the body, her eyes huge for a few seconds. "Oh bloody…"

Glenda sort of looked apologetic. "I am sorry, I haven't moved the door at all, I was afraid it would ruin…evidence"

Judith turned professional. "You did good, we will work as fast as we can"

She did take photos and the assistant got the horrible job of gathering the blood and the tools. He did look green. Thran made a grimace. "We have to go now, text me if you find something interesting"

Judith didn't even look at him. "Will do"

Thran almost ran to the car and Bard had to hurry to catch up with him. They took off and Thran did drive like a demon possessed to the factory. It lay near the harbour and the front gate was closed. There was a sign there saying "Closed due to family business"

Thran got out of the car and walked around, the factory was rather large and they saw several boats which were ready to be delivered. Bard saw that there was a sort of door bell attached to the gate and he went over and pushed the button. At first nothing happened, then an elderly man came out of a door near the entrance, he couldn't be a worker for he was bent over and walked with a cane but he wore a sweater with the company logo on it and he tilted his head and fished a key out of his pockets. "A good day to you sirs, I recon you are with the police?"

Thran nodded. "Yes, we are investigating the death of Rosa Devon, ah, I wondered if we could take a look at the factory. We have reason to believe that she has been here during the night of her murder"

The old man smacked his lips. "Of course gentlemen, follow me. Rosa was often here, she loved the boats you see. She drew the designs for several of them."

He opened the gate and they passed through, the old man was limping badly and he sort of leaned to one side the whole time. Bard stared at him and he snickered. "Oh, I am the janitor, or rather, a gate keeper. Mr Devon's father was my brother in law, I have worked for the company for…fifty years now? "

Bard swallowed. "You…you are no spring chicken, why work when you are obviously having problems walking?"

The man grinned. "If I sit down I will rot, simply as that. I get some salary and I stay active and that is all I need really. Thank goodness that Mr Devon is such a good man, he has room for everybody."

Thran stared at the buildings. "I am glad to hear that, and we are very sorry for his loss"

The man nodded.. "We are all mourning now, Rosa was like a daughter to everybody here, we all spoiled that kid rotten. "

He opened the door to one of the buildings with a groan and Thran cringed. "You have been hurt?"

He nodded. "Aye, fifteen years ago, got smashed by a boat which did slide out of its sling, we were putting it on the water and the owner wanted it lowered into the water from above, instead of sliding down to the water the normal way. And the straps were too narrow to keep it steady. I survived so I guess I ought to be grateful"

Thran smiled. "You are one tough person Sir, so, what are we looking at here?"

The old man raised an arm. "This is the production area, where the fiber glass is being moulded and put together. Over there is the area where the boats get their finish and the next building is where they get their interior"

Thran walked forth, there were lots and lots of heavy machinery there and he grasped a small penlight and switched it on. It was black light and as they walked towards one of the machines it started to glow an eerie blue. The old man stared at it with huge eyes. "Ah, what is that?"

Thran sighed. "Blood, what does that machine do?"

The man swallowed hard. "It… it shapes the metal skeleton of the boats, it is needed to keep them in shape."

Thran stared at the machine, there as even blood on the floor but not visible. "There has been nobody in here since she was found dead?"

The old man shook his head. "No, the factory has been closed for two days now. Was…was she killed here?!"

Bard nodded. "Yes, looks like it. Tell me, is there a half finished boat here with a blue finish?"

The old man did nod. "Yes, over in the storage unit?"

Thran did bend down, he picked up something using a pair of gloves. It was a large wrench, and it was covered with grease and blood. It was almost glowing in the blacklight. "This was used on her, beyond doubt, I will call the technicians. There is lots of evidence here"

The old man looked as if he was about to weep. "Oh god, Rosa was very careful you know, she was taught well. The machines in here are very dangerous and the rules strict. Mr Devon isn't like other factory owners, he does care for his workers and won't accept any accidents. I was given a huge compensation for my accident and I didn't even ask for it"

Thran made a grimace. "Show me that boat"

They went into the next building and they did recognize the boat right away, it had been left as it was and there were no signs of anybody there. No blood or anything. Rosa hadn't been killed there, that was for sure but the last picture was taken there beyond doubt. Thran got on the phone with Thor and explained everything and then they told the old man to keep the gate closed until the technicians arrived. They were pretty busy this day for sure.

Thran was very quiet as they drove towards the school, his eyes were glazed and distant and his jaw clenched. Bard knew that his husband was nervous and also a bit scared, the level of brutality here was beyond anything they had come across before. The school was a very well respected one with a very good reputation and it was not among the largest in this city. Exclusive was a word which did describe it rather well. Bard and Thran were heading up the stairs when the girl from the day before stepped forth from behind the front door, her eyes were huge. "Is it true that…that someone has killed yet another girl?!"

Bard swallowed hard, how the heck did she know? "Ah, I don't know where you have gotten that piece of information young miss…"

Miranda took a deep breath. "I saw Deidre's teacher earlier this morning, she did look as if the world had fallen apart right in front of her, and the headmaster is gonna give a speech now in twenty minutes time. I was just putting two and two together Sir, so it is true?"

Thran had to nod, the girl was very smart indeed. She had made them confirm it. "Yes, Deidre is…gone"

Miranda swallowed convulsively. "Oh God, that is …horrible"

Bard frowned. "She didn't happen to have a blog too?"

Miranda blinked, her eyes huge. "Well, yes? She did have a blog, but it wasn't a beauty blog though, it was about horses."

Thran did look intense. "Did she get any money from it?"

Miranda nodded. "Oh yes, like a lot! She had many sponsors. The horse market is a huge one and she made people buy stuff all the time. "

Thran and Bard stared at each other, they were both thinking the same thing. Miranda did take a look around her, she lowered her voice. "I was speaking with Deidre a lot, she was cool. Not full of her self like some of the other girls here, more down to earth if you know what I mean?"

The men did nod and Miranda made a grimace. "She had a stalker, on the blog. She blocked the guy but he kept coming back, with a new name each time"

Bard took a deep breath. "When you say stalker, what do you mean?"

Miranda was keeping her voice low for there were people scurrying by the whole time. "He wanted her to wear…horse stuff. Like bits, and saddles and stuff. And go around on all fours, naked. It was very sick"

Thran nodded. "I see, what do you know of her family?"

Miranda smiled, she did look happy to be useful. "Her mom is a hair dresser and her dad ran out of them when Deidre was five, he haven't paid child support at all and nobody knows where he is. Could be dead for all they know. Deidre's mom has inherited some money from her parents, that's what pays for Deidre's riding and her horse"

Thran did notice that a short but rather round woman wearing a blue skirt and blazer came towards them, she had to be the headmaster and Thran put on his most polite expression. The woman did look very distraught, she was almost in tears and her eyes were red. "Are you the investigators? Your boss called and said you were on your way?"

Bard nodded and Thran held up his badge, "Yes, we are from the police. May I speak with you in private?"

The woman nodded slowly, her make up was smeared and she had a slight tremble in her hands. "Of course, follow me gentlemen"

Some students were staring at them but since neither did carry a uniform most did probably think they were somebody's dads. The headmaster lead them into her office and closed the door, she did look a bit like deer trapped in the headlights of an oncoming semi truck. "Is it true? Is Deidre too…murdered?!"

Thran took a calming breath. "Yes Mrs Fallow, it is true. She was found this morning, at the stable"

The headmaster sat down so hard it was a miracle the chair didn't fold in half. "Dear lord, I got a call from her mother, an hour ago. She didn't say much, she screamed most of the time but I managed to understand that Deidre is dead…How…"

Bard shook his head. "It is better for you not to know, believe me. You have told Deidre's teacher?"

Mrs Fallow nodded slowly. "Yes, and the poor woman almost lost it. Deidre was….she was loved by everybody, such a hard working sweet person"

Thran sent the woman a very calming smile, she was genuinely shocked. "So, have any of you noticed anything unusual here, like somebody hanging around the school who doesn't belong here, or strange phone calls, things like that?"

The headmaster shook her head. "We have a very good security system here, the entire school has surveillance and we have guards standing by at all time. The students must leave their cell phones when they arrive in the morning and won't get them back until they leave for the evening. And no photos taken while on these parameters."

Bard leaned a bit forward, the chair he sat in was a bit uncomfortable to say the least. It was so hard he feared that his ass would become completely without feeling if he sat there for much longer. "Are you aware that both the deceased girls were bloggers?"

The headmaster did roll her eyes. "Yes! It is an epidemic. Now everybody wants to run a blog and make a fortune but most of them don't exactly succeed. It takes hard work and determination to reach that far. And there are so many blogs out there, making something which make you stand out from the crowd is not easy"

Thran smiled. "I bet, so many do the same thing here?"

The headmaster did nod. "Yes, we have some who have made it though, but if I say that half of the students have a blog less then five have really become famous. Deidre and Rosa were among them"

Thran sighed. "Right, it cannot be a coincidence, we are facing some mad person who does target bloggers"

Mrs Fallow got even more pale than before. "Oh no, I have to warn them…I..."

Bard took her hand, gently. "Tell me, who else has blogs like that, famous ones?"

Mrs Fallow blinked, she did look as if she was going into a sort of shock. Thran snapped his fingers and she jerked. "Come on, who?"

Mrs Fallow swallowed hard. "Ah…Jeanie Bardston, she writes about cooking, Emmelina Voight, she is a fitness enthusiast and then there is Bryan Woods, he is all about sports history"

Bard smiled. "Alright, call their classrooms and ask if they can come to this room, don't make it sound like something serious."

The headmaster did grasp the intercom and called the teachers. She was obviously nervous and her face was red but she kept her voice steady and surprisingly sweet. After two minutes there was a knock on the door and two kids entered, a tall rather chubby looking girl and a nerdy looking guy with thick glasses and a distinct lack of a good haircut. Mrs Fallow smiled. "Where is Emmelina?"

The chubby girl shrugged. "She didn't show up for school today"

Thran tensed up. "Does that happen often?"

The chubby girl who was Jeanie shook her head. "Doh, like never? Who are you?"

Mrs Fallow grasped a phone. "I have to call her parents, I have to know if she is okay"

The two men did show their badges and the two teens eyes got huge. Jeanie did sit down, like she had been shot. "So it is true…"

Thran smiled, a very sad smile. "I am afraid so. I am sorry, but the one who did hurt Rosa and Deidre are targeting bloggers, or so it seems"

The lad started to shiver. "Are…are we in danger?!"

His voice was becoming hysterical and Bard laid a hand on his shoulder, to calm him. "We will offer you police escort and take you to a safe location, you will be under constant surveillance until we have solved this case"

Mrs Fallow shook her head. "Ah, nobody is answering the phone? Emmelina's mom is a stay at home mom, she ought to be there"

Thran was a bit pale. "What is their address?"

Mrs Fallow opened a folder. "Uh…2489 West Dingham street."

Thran did open his phone. "This is unit BT 87, this is an emergency. Send units to 2489 Dingham street, we have a possible 490-1."

Bard frowned. "Really?"

Mrs Fallow did look curious. "What does that mean?"

Thran swallowed and loosened the upper button of his shirt. "A multiple murder with house intrusion."

Mrs Fallow squeaked and the two kids were ashen grey. Bard leaned back. "Do you kids know of anyone else who runs blogs, famous ones?"

They looked at each other. "Ah…Miranda did, for a little while, but she quit, she didn't have what it took, and she was writing about former first wives, not many bothered following that, boring"

Bard frowned. "Really? That is an odd interest"

Jeanie shrugged. "Miranda is weird, I mean, she is super smart and very polite and all but she never lets people get really close to her if you know what I mean? She doesn't have really close friends."

Thran tilted his head. "Alright? Is she shy perhaps?"

Mrs Fallow shook her head. "No, Miranda is among our best students, she is so smart she easily could have finished high school in just two years but she is living with adoptive parents. The CPS did take her from her real family when she was four, I think the reason was abuse but I am not sure of what kind of abuse."

Thran nodded. "There are many kids like that unfortunately. But she is doing well?"

Mrs Fallow nodded. "Oh yes, very well indeed. She is very mature for her age, and she does her best to be liked but she isn't one of those who has to be liked no matter what. She isn't trying to be somebody she isn't, just to fit inn. That is rare"

Bard grinned and thought about all the drama Sigrid was talking about, her class was full of drama queens for sure. "That is very mature yes"

Mrs Fallow stared at them, pleadingly. "So, what now?"

Thran smiled. "Call Jeanie and Bryan's families, tell them to get here. I will call the office and ask for them to be put under surveillance and see to it that they are given a safe place to stay. Don't worry, nobody is gonna get to you"

Jeanie was a bit grey still and Bryan did look green. Thran tilted his head. "So, have anybody approached you in any manner which didn't seem okay? You both run blogs, any odd comments?"

They looked at each other, Jeanie did swallow hard and her face did express a slight disgust. "Well, there was this one woman some weeks ago. She was nasty, she said I couldn't cook to save my own life, and that my recipes and routines would give people food poisoning. I did block her right away, she was just…nope!"

Thran looked at Bryan. "You?"

The lad shook his head. "No, nothing. I don't have that many followers but the area I blog within is very small and it is rather famous among sports enthusiasts. I guess I cannot be attacked since I always use solid sources and give links to where I find my information too."

Thran lifted an eyebrow. "I think Bryan is rather safe, my guess is that the culprit goes for girls, not lads, but one can never be completely sure. I would hate to be wrong about this"

Bard jerked, his phone went off and he saw that it was the leader of the team of technicians. He did push the answer button and the deep baritone of the tech could be heard. "Bard, it is me, Bruce, we have checked the factory. Nothing, the only remains we did find were from Rosa, no DNA or anything from anybody else. It was almost spooky. The wrench was…what you said it was, and the hydraulics had been used to break her bones without doubt, there was skin residue on them. The only thing we did find was a piece of candy wrapping, Fox's sweet mints. It could have been left there by one of the workers"

Bard sighed. "Alright, damn it, I had hoped that…"

Bruce could be heard sighing too. "Sorry, that bastard was careful, just…allow me to make a personal comment?"

Bard rolled his eyes " Of course, out with it"

The baritone was low, as if the man was almost whispering. "The killer, he knows our methods Bard, he knows how we work and what we look for. This one could very well be an ex cop"

Bard felt that his hairs stood up on end. "Shit, you are right Bruce, well, go on. We'll talk later on"

He ended the conversation and his eyes were dark. "If Bruce is right…"

Thran closed his eyes. "Then there is great trouble"

He did call Thor and asked for somebody to come and take care of the two teens and then they made Mrs Fallow address the students and give a short and very sweetened explanation as to what was going on.

Miranda was waiting for them when they got out, she was grinning. "Can I help you some more? I think what you are doing is so fascinating, it must be great helping people"

Thran petted her on her arm, he did look like somebody's sweet uncle there and then. "Well, you can ask everybody here who has a blog if somebody has sent them odd messages?"

Miranda did beam. "Will do Sir, are Jeanie and Bryan gonna be alright?"

Thran nodded. "Of course, they will be taken to a safe location, and have cops watching over them at all times. Do not worry"

Miranda smiled. "That is wonderful, Jeanie is so sweet and Bryan is very good at what he is doing, he puts so much work into it"

Thran just smiled and they were heading for the car when Thran's phone rang again. "Unit BT 87? This is officer Clarke, I am here outside of the Winston residence…Ah…you…you will not believe what we have just come across…"

Thran closed his eyes, his knuckles were white. "Emmelina is dead?"

The voice from the other end was shivering. "They are all dead, goddamn it Thran, they do not pay us enough for this shit, nowhere near enough. Get your asses down here, asap. I have called for Judith and the CSI techs, but they are currently busy at that stable. I…Oh Jesus Thran, I will need counselling after this, seriously"

Thran stared at Bard. "How fast can we get there?"

Bard made a nasty grimace. "If you drive? Ten minutes?"

Exactly eight minutes and thirty seconds they stopped next to two police cruisers which stood there with their lights on and they saw two police officers standing next to a fire hydrant, both were puking and Clarke was standing by the door, he did look as if he too had puked but his uniform was impeccable and he did look calm, although very shaken. "Goddamn it guys, do that car have a rocket engine or something? From the school to this place in less than ten minutes? I ought to give you a hefty speeding ticket"

Thran just made a stiff grin. "So, how bad is it?"

Clarke leaned against the wall. "I have seen shit guys, serious shit. But this…I cannot…This isn't a human being guys, no human does this to another sentient being. No way!"

He did walk into the house, it was an ordinary looking suburban middle class home, nice furniture, well put together. Clean, neat, very cosy and it did look like a happy home. But there as a smell there which did tell them all that something was terribly wrong. And on top of it a scent which did make Bard sniff and look at Clarke with questions within his gaze. "Cooking oil, just you wait and see"

The first dead person was a man who laid on a couch with a newspaper still folded neatly over his chest, cause of death was easy to see, a small bullet wound in his temple. "Mr Winston, he died in his sleep, lucky bastard."

The next dead thing they found was a dog, it too had been shot through the head and lay there in the middle of a doorway. It was a golden retriever and there was an odd confused expression on the poor animals face. Thran swallowed and swallowed, animals were his soft spot. Clarke went into the kitchen, it was spotless and very nice and a woman sat on a chair next to the bench, her head laid on the bench and her arms were hanging down. A kitchen knife laid on the floor and there was a smell of onions. "She was cutting onions when…she was killed"

Thran's voice was hoarse. "The killer didn't bother with torturing them, they were just in the way, something he had to get rid of. He had to have used a silencer"

Clarke nodded. "I have looked at the wounds, all came from a calibre 22 handgun, and all were very close range. It had to be, a gun like that does lose most of its power if you use a silencer, more than half a meter and the shot won't be fatal"

Thran lifted an arm and pretended to be firing a gun. "That is so goddamn cold, just raising a gun and shooting somebody like that."

Bard nodded. "The killer doesn't see these people as human, they are…chattel"

Clarke nodded. "It is like under the war, the Nazis would shoot people like that, as if it was nothing, just a boring job which needed to be done."

Thran gathered himself. "Emmelina?"

Clarke went a bit green again. "Upstairs, and…you haven't eaten I hope?"

Both shook their heads and he sent them a pale smile. "Follow me"

He went up a flight of stairs and the scent of oil got stronger. Bard was holding his breath. They entered a room which was turned into a small gym with all sorts of machines. At first he didn't even know what he was staring at, then he realized and he almost passed out. "How…"

Clarke didn't stare at the body at all, he stared at the wall, wisely. "How it is possible? Beats me!"

Thran was heaving for air and there were tears in his eyes. Bard could understand it for he felt the same way. "It is the same M.O. using what they stand for against them"

Clarke took a few very deep breaths. "From what I can see here the culprit did strap her arms and legs to that machine there and put it on max speed, while…"

Thran took up a huge five gallon bottle which had contained cooking oil, it had a hose attached to it, and a sort of electrical pump and a huge syringe. It did look expensive. The body didn't look like a fitness expert for sure, it was so bloated it was grotesque, and the movements had in fact caused the skin to rupture along the joints.

Thran was green. "I guess the cause of death is compression of the heart and lungs, there can't be any more space in there for her organs to work"

Clarke nodded. "My guess also, her entire body is filled with oil, I bet there is oil under her skin and inside of the abdominal cavity too."

Bard tried to think. "You know, the first murder victim, she had been drugged. And this looks like hospital equipment"

Thran turned around, swiftly "You are absolutely right, the person must have access to a hospital."

The dead girls face was also swollen, blood had been running from several puncture wounds and Clarke groaned. "I once heard of a worker at a garage who accidentally got stabbed with the equipment used to inflate truck tires, he got his entire body filled with air but survived miraculously. I guess oil is…."

Thran looked down. "It has probably gotten into her bloodstream, into her lungs and heart and everything. But when did she die? Deidre was killed early this morning?"

Clarke shrugged. "I think it happened early last night, the bodies are stiff but is starting to soften again and I spoke to one of the neighbours. They haven't seen any of them since half past six last night, when they did walk the dog."

Bard stared at the pump, and the straps which did attach the girls legs and arms to the stepping machine. It had to have been hellish, being forced to move when your skin slowly ruptured due to the pressure.

Thran left the room, he picked up his phone again and checked the map again. "When the others arrive we are going to go for a walk. The street Rosa had to have passed through isn't far from here, I have a feeling we may find something there"

Bard sort of cringed. "I wouldn't bet on it"

Thran just shrugged. "We have to start somewhere"

Judith did arrive twenty minutes later, looking tired and also sad. "So, this is even worse?"

Thran nodded. "More sadistic than ever, and more than one dead person too. This one won't stop"

Judith took a very deep breath. "Alright, leave it to me. Get out of here, you both look as if you need some fresh air. "

Thran got outside, he bent over and stood like that for a while, just breathing. "I have never come across anything like this…ever! I…I just cannot imagine what sort of creature we are dealing with here"

Bard tried to grin. "Makes us two"

They were heading towards the car when the phone rang again, it was a number they didn't know but when Bard answered they heard a hysterical voice in the back, and it was one they knew. "Mr Bowman? It is me, Miranda, I…I am at the school and…something has happened"

She did sound as if she was about to burst out crying. Bard didn't like the sound of it at all, something had obviously upset her, terribly. "Slow down, what has happened?"

Miranda was sobbing. "I…I have a cell phone, hidden. We all do, well, most of us anyway. The school don't allow phones in class so we hide them….and me and Adelyn…we both…we got the same message…just now"

Thran leaned over. "Is Adelyn a blogger?"

Miranda was breathing hard. "Yes, she just started, she blogs about dieting and healthy weight loss. I…I used to have a blog too, but….i haven't been active for months, it…it got too boring and…"

She was getting hysterical and Bard didn't really know what to do. "Calm yourself, please. What message"

Miranda could be heard gasping. "I am sending it, as a screen shot"

Thran's phone did ping and a picture did appear, it was a short text but it was very nasty. "You bitch is next, you are gonna squeal like the pig you are, goddamn fake whore"

Thran stared at Bard. "Right, they both have to be put somewhere safe. "

Bard nodded. "I will make the call, the safe house has room for two more for sure"

Miranda was sobbing again. "Please, hurry. We are both so very scared."

Thran took the phone. "I know, but it is gonna be alright. We are sending someone to pick you up right now, stay where you are and do not leave the school"

Miranda did sound as if she was choking. "Yes, yes, I will look after Adelyn, she …she is…so very frightened"

Thran made a grimace. "Yes, I understand that, but do not despair. You will be safe soon"

Miranda gasped. "Are you at Emmelina's place, is she okay? Is her dad and mom okay? What about their dog?"

Thran clenched his teeth together. "Sweetie, I am so sorry"

Miranda let out a shriek and then the phone went dead and Thran shook his head. "This case? I am telling you, I am starting to believe in the devil, for real"

Bard nodded. "Right, but I feel like moving now, let us check that street fair, at least they will pick up the girls soon."

Thran nodded, Bard got on the phone and made the request and then they started walking. The street was rather long and a real old fashioned market with booths and shops all over and there were people everywhere. They walked slowly, tried to see if anybody there made tattoos and Bard suddenly stopped. "Look at that?"

It was a booth selling candy and there was some Fox sweet mint bags hanging on the front of it, it was a rather common type of candy but Bard remembered what Bruce had said about the wrapping they found in the factory. It wouldn't hurt trying one's luck. The salesman was an elderly chap with a bowler hat and a nice moustache. He did not at them. "Can I get you something gentlemen?"

Bard showed his badge. "We just want to know if you have sold any of those sweet mints two days ago? Probably in the late evening?"

The man frowned. "Hmmm, I sell a lot of those you see, they are popular…"

Bard moaned and the man did pull his moustache. "But when you mention it…there was one customer who sort of triggered the old spider sense you if catch my drift. I work here alone, often late and I have learned to read people."

Thran did tense up. "Yes?"

The man made a grimace. "Young lad, maybe late teens? Didn't speak, just pointed at the candy and paid in cash. But there was something very weird about him, wore a cap and I did barely see the face. Rather pretty, short stubble, scar over the cheek. What made me react were his clothes, they were…too nice if you catch my drift? Not worn at all, probably brand new, and black. Looked like a track suit of some sorts, the expensive kind. If the people who have cash come here it is usually to look for drugs."

Thran nodded. "So he did trigger your instincts, something else?"

The man frowned. "Ah, well, there was this chick walking through the street at the same time, she carried a camera. And she was dressed as if she was a model, not very smart if you catch my drift? There are nasty people out there. But I did notice that she did look at the guy a few times and he at her, it wasn't just a coincidence, I can tell you that"

Bard frowned. "Really?"

The salesman nodded. "I have instincts remember? Those were aware of each other, or you can call me one of Santa's little helpers."

Thran did wet his lips. "Right, so she didn't appear to be scared?"

The man shook his head. "More like having fun, having a secret. She did look almost smug"

Thran didn't want to show the sweet old man the images of Rosa after she was dead. "Was the girl dark haired, rather petite, with dramatic make up?"

The saleman nodded. "Yes, very pretty. But she should at least have worn a coat, it was cold that evening"

Bard stared at the booths and shops. "Are there anybody here who makes henna tattoos, the temporary type?"

The salesman did point up along the street. "There is one guy here who does that yes, he is sitting right after the shop which sells crystals and stuff. You cannot miss it"

Bard did thank him and they walked on, Thran did look intense as never before. "That guy, he was the one who took the photos. I am sure of it. Who the fuck are we looking for?"

Bard shrugged. "I have no idea!"

They found the tattoo guy, he was an elderly Asian man who sat there on a sort of large pillow and they saw that he couldn't walk, his lower legs were crippled and he smiled at them but pointed at his ears and shook his head. He was deaf. Thran sighed, wonderful. The man did tap his stick at a box and a girl came from the back of the shop, she smiled and seemed to be very friendly. " I am sorry, grandfather is deaf but we have a sort of sign language we use. How may I be of service?"

Bard took a sigh of relief. "Ask him if he did put a tattoo on a girl two nights ago? A black henna tattoo, on her hand?"

The girl did move her hands in a very rapid manner, and the old man did nod. He did sign her back and the girl looked at the two. "Yes, he did give a girl a tattoo that evening, very late. He was about to shut down for the night but she insisted, or rather, her boyfriend did. He picked the design too"

Thran frowned ."Really? What sort of design was it?"

The girl signed and the grandfather signed back. "It was a symbol which means "rebirth" in our language, but he says that there was something wrong with the girl, and the guy. He got scared"

Thran leaned forwards. "Explain?"

The old man could clearly read on the lips for he signed the girl and she did nod slowly "The girl was intoxicated, not much but visibly, she acted as if she had no will of her own. And the guy? Grandfather calls him a "doubleface" That means that somebody is hiding their true nature, that they are false, not what they appear to be. He says that the young dude was…"

She signed at the old man and he answered again. "A dark spirit, very bad"

Thran stared at Bard, "He had some sort of hold of her, not only via drugs but otherwise."

The old man tilted his head, he clicked his tongue to catch their attention. The granddaughter did translate the signs he made. "He says that you ought to be aware, you must not trust what you see, trust what you feel."

Thran bowed swiftly. "We will remember his wise words, and heed them well"

The old man smiled and grasped Thrans's hand, he did do some sort of sign in the air, then he did the same with Bard. "Grandfather was blessing you, consider it an honour"

Thranduil nodded and bowed again. "We are honoured"

He and Bard walked on towards the factory and Bard bit his lower lip. "We have to call Judith, there could be more drugs in Rosa's system then what they found earlier. She must have been unable to resist, or stand up for herself. She knew she was allergic to black henna"

Thran grunted. "Yes, and the design. "Rebirth" It is creepy, the culprit had it all planned, to the smallest detail. I think he did that to them all, planned it carefully"

Bard kicked an empty coke can out of his path. "You are right, he must have studied their every move carefully, their every day routine and everything. And yet nobody did react to it?"

Thran shrugged and picked up his phone. "I am gonna call Judith, she has to run some extra analysis on Rosa's body. And since she is a doctor she may be able to find out if some hospital is missing equipment."

He did press the button and they heard Judith's voice, she did sound stressed out. "Thran, I was just about to call you. The lab has finally gotten their hands out of their asses and done some real work. Rosa had more than just alcohol in her body, but it didn't show up in her blood, there were remnants in her liver though. Very small amounts of an old drug used to interrogate spies. It was called truth serum but what it really does is remove inhibitions and make you very eager to please. "

Thran almost snorted. "I was gonna ask about just that, so she was probably unable to make her own decisions?"

Judith could be heard moving something metallic. "Yes, combined with alcohol it would have made her almost unable to question anything. It is a very insidious drug"

Thran nodded to himself. "Judith, the culprit must have gotten the drugs and the equipment from somewhere, can you call the hospitals and ask if they are missing something?"

Judith was probably walking, they heard footsteps. "I am on it, I think I know what that pump was for, so I can narrow down the number of places I have to call. Emmelina did by the way die from massive doses of oil in her blood, there were cloths everywhere, lungs and heart and brain. And of course blood loss, she was a complete mess poor thing"

Thran sighed. "Sadistic son of a bitch, I swear to God, if I lay my hands on that person I will not hesitate. I don't bloody care if it counts as police brutality"

Judith almost growled. "I agree, I would love to do some permanent damage to that person too, of the fatal sort."

Thran did end the conversation and he shook his head. "So, what's next? The factory is being checked, the school is safe, the kids are in a safe place. What haven't we looked at?"

Bard made a grimace. "Their respective blogs? There could be some hints there, but I don't know how to navigate those things."

Thran snapped his fingers. "But Erestor can, let's go. We need to talk to our favourite hacker, if there is something sinister about the blogs he can find it"

They returned to the car and half an hour later the famous hacker was placed in a office at the HQ and he was attacking the computer he had been given as if he was starving and it was food. He went through Rosa's blog first and he did look as if he was very focused. "There is indeed something odd here, but I am not quite sure what it is. Let me look at the others, if I see the same thing there we may be onto something"

Thran was obviously curious. "Weird how?"

Erestor made a sort of vague gesture. "To a layman this may be a bit incomprehensible but nothing is ever gone if it has been posted online, there is a trace of it, a sort of ghost if you like. You can delete your spam but it can still be found, if you know how to look, I cannot help but think that there are something missing from this blog."

He opened the front page. "The set up of the page is very professional, and it looks damn good too. But in the comment section…."

He pointed at some comments. "I cannot help but think that some comments have been deleted, probably by Rosa herself."

He opened several tabs and brought up the blogs of the other girls. "Let us see here!"

He worked for a while, Thran and Bard got headaches just from watching the speed with which he did type and it was obvious that this was an art most people wouldn't even understand, thank goodness for that. Erestor did raise his hands. "I was right, I was damn right, they have all deleted some comments, from the same source"

Thran was tense. "Can you track them?"

Erestor made a grimace. "I will try, but do not count on it. It could have been posted from a cell phone and if it is a disposable one…well."

Bard held his breath and Thran was trotting around the room, very nervously. Erestor sat with his face almost rubbing against the screen and he was mumbling something to himself. It did sound like the way some people whisper to a nervous animal to calm it down. It took a while, a good twenty minutes and Bard was eying the coffee machine outside of the office with obvious longing when Erestor finally leaned back again. He shrugged. "Sorry, it is from a disposable phone, un-trackable"

Thran swore. "Can you in any manner check the blogs of those kids who are still alive? Could the culprit have sent them messages?"

Erestor did raise his arm in a salute. "Aye sir."

He went to work again and this time it didn't really take that long before he whistled and got a very confused expression on his face. "Guys, take a look at this."

He pointed at the screen. "The lad, he haven't gotten any messages of a nasty nature at all. I bet he is safe. But the girls…"

He opened a tab. "Here is that Jeanie girl. See this?"

He pointed at a long row of comments and Bard did read, his eyes got wider and wider. "What the …"

Erestor did nod. "Whoever this is, he hates her, with a vengeance. I have seen some nasty comments but this? It just spews bile and hatred"

Thran did lean forth, he was reading too. "The person doesn't seem to be very literate, the spelling is horrendous and immature. I think we are right when we say that this guy is some looser who wants to get even at girls who manage to become successful"

Bard turned to him. "Like an Incel?"

Thran shook his head. "No, way worse, much less human. This is a monster"

Erestor opened the blogs of also Adelyn and Miranda and to their shock they saw a distinct difference there. Miranda hadn't really gotten that many messages but they were very different from those Jeanie had gotten. It wasn't an attack at her personally, just at her blog. It wasn't professional enough, it was too sloppy, the writing was done by an amateur, the historical facts were not right… It was written in a strict almost school teacher like manner and yet the misspellings and cusswords were the same.

Adelyn on the other hand had gotten many messages and she had obviously tried to delete many too. And they were very different, they were the words of a person who tries to make themselves sound like the best friend Adelyn could ever get. It was shameless bragging about her blog, about her looks, about everything really. It was wishes to become best friends forever, it was confessions of lust and love and Thran did look as if he had tasted something nasty. " I bet he started off like that with the others too, too bad those comments are gone. Adoration turns to black hatred the moment real rejection is made"

Bard swallowed hard. "Look here."

It was among the last comments made by Jeanie. "Get off my blog you looser, I do not want to see your name in my comment field again, get lost"

Thran shuddered. "She is in danger, goddamn it"

Erestor opened Miranda's blog. She had just answered with an impersonal "Who is this? I do not like your tone"

That was the last thing there, no further contact. Thran frowned, "She didn't express fear, she stood her ground and was cold in her answer. I bet that have pissed the culprit off, enough to text her"

Bard nodded. "And the others were afraid, and that must have been like a heady drink of power for that bastard"

Thran tilted his head. "Adelyn too got that text, the bastard is escalating his killing spree, I bet he will go for the others too, in some way or the other. If the one he does contact don't respond the way he wants he starts to hate them right away."

Bard shivered, his hairs stood upon end "Goddamn it, sounds like a very insecure person"

Thran nodded. "A psychological wreck for sure, filled with malice."

Bard tried to concentrate, remember other cases like this except from the fact that there never had been cases like this one. "Do you think the culprit has been under treatment?"

Thran did shake his head. "Hardly, a person that disturbed would never have been allowed to leave, he would have been kept under surveillance twenty four seven"

Bard sighed. "You are right"

Thran's phone did ring and it was Judith. She did sound short of breath. "I did check for theft, and yes, one hospital had both equipment and drugs stolen two weeks ago. It was during a fire alarm, somebody did trigger the alarm in the basement and they had to evacuate. It was chaos for they had career day and there were lots of school kids there learning about how to become a doctor. When things calmed down several things were missing, no signs of them anywhere and the camera's had been sprayed with black shoeshine. Didn't show anything at all"

Thran moaned. "Great, fucking amazing."

He shook his head. "Somebody up there hates us"

Bard nodded solemnly. "Amen to that"

Judith was almost yelling. "It was the Northbeach hospital, they specialize in plastic surgery, the pump is usually used for liposuction. It is very powerful indeed."

Thran was a bit pale. "And the culprit probably made it work in reverse. Smart bastard"

Bard stared at Erestor. "But the lad haven't received any threats at all? No problems?"

Erestor nodded. "Yes, he is safe, I see no signs of that person on his blog"

Thran frowned. "What is the username?"

Erestor looked at the screen. "He has used several, mostly just numbers and letters but it is obviously the same person. The messages sent for Adelyn is different though, at least yet. Here he is called Greekpoet"

Bard just gaped. "What? Greek poet?"

Erestor nodded. "Odd yes, but who knows what this person is thinking about"

Thran was walking in circles. "I don't like it, the person is like one of those small lizards which change colours all the time. A username is usually very personal, it does say something about the person and his or her preferences. To just switch one all the time tells me the person isn't really stabile at all, it is somebody able to change themselves completely from one moment to the next"

Erestor did raise a finger. "I think the first contact was done using the real username, but when things turned nasty he started using those without any real information in them"

Thran looked at him with narrow eyes. "What makes you think that?

Erestor tilted his head. "Dude, I work with computers, I am a hacker. Some people out there live their entire lives through their computers and there are some messed up personalities out there for sure. I have seen it all. Believe me, when you accidentally come across a page for people who like to smear themselves with poop while singing the national anthem and eating cherry pie you lose some of your faith in mankind"

Bard couldn't answer to that, he just shuddered and Thran rolled his eyes.

That was when there as an alarm going off, it sent everybody out of their chairs and Thor came busting through his door like a raging bull. It usually meant that some officer was down and Thran and Bard stared at the man with huge eyes. "What is going on?"

Thor was pale, his eyes bulging. "It is the safehouse, it has been hit. You…I have alerted the Swat team, it is a mass casualty event"

Bard did seem to shrink, Thran was unable to close his mouth and Erestor was just staring, wide eyed. Thor leaned against the door frame. "Catch this one, for the love of God, do it soon. We have lost good officers, please!"

Thran was heading for the door. "Wait a second Thran, none of you are leaving without this!"

He held up two bullet proof wests, a new type which could stop just about anything, including bullets from an assault rifle. And it did also cover the upper arms and thighs. Thran stared at it, with disdain but he did take it and Bard grasped his with glee and put it on. It made you stiff and slow but it could save your life. They ran to the car and the SWAT team did appear right at the very same moment, the black van was hauling ass along the road with sirens and all and Bard knew that these guys were the best of the very best. They were also very angry so Bard hoped that he and Thran would get there first. If the culprit was still on the scene or nearby they didn't want some gun crazy ex army guy peppering him with large calibre bullets before they had the chance to interrogate him. Thran did drive like a demon possessed, he did swerve through the traffic with the sirens on full and he did break just about every traffic rule known to mankind but Bard didn't care, they had to get there, fast.

The safehouse was a villa in one of the suburbs to the north of the city, it was a very quiet and almost anonymous neighbourhood and the street was eerily quiet. There were two police cars and an ordinary sedan in the driveway and a police officer stepped out from behind a tree, he was covered with sweat and held his gun in a shaky hand. "Sirs, please. Do not enter. I have no idea of what is going on in there but I heard gunshots and…Brian and Thomas, they don't answer when I call them."

Thran nodded. "How many gunshots?"

The officer swallowed, his adam's apple was jumping up and down. "Three Sir, from one of our own guns. The sound is rather special"

Bard did loosen his own gun and cocked it, he felt the taste of bile in his mouth and hoped that they weren't too late. The officer was panting. "The parents…they all went out to eat, we…we haven't called them yet…if they return…"

Bard swore and called Thor, asked him to send somebody to stop the parents., the culprit had clearly held the house under surveillance to know when it was safe to attack. But how had he known where the kids were? Thran stared at the house, it was silent. The SWAT team did arrive, they had shut off the sirens and everything and the van did just glide into place, there was no shouting and yelling like you see in the movies, just men in black armour sneaking forth with guns ready. Thran and Bard did follow the leader, a huge guy who gave orders using signs. The front door was open and they found the first body just inside of the door. It as the officer by the name of Thomas, he laid there on his belly and there was little blood but the SWAT leader bent down and checked him. The cause of death was obvious, a gunshot to the head. Just like the parents of Emmelina. Thran was shaking, Bard had never seen him this tense before.

The next body was Bryan, he lay on the couch with a remote control still in his hand, he too had been shot through the head point blank. He hadn't had time to notice anything, there was still some popcorn in his mouth and his eyes were open and staring into nothing. Bard felt sick to the core.

Thran whispered. "He was just disposed of, like that officer. "

The SWAT leader moved silently and the others spread through the house, there ought to be yet another police officer there and they moved upstairs. They were halfways up the stairs when they heard someone shout, it was a girls voice, straining and thin. "H…hello? Help!"

They entered a corridor and saw a horrible sight. Miranda and Adelyn sat at the end of the corridor, in a heap. In front of them lay the body of the second officer and in front of him lay another body. He had a small handgun in his hand and wore a sort of ski mask. Miranda held a gun in her hand, it was shaking terribly and there was blood on her face. She appeared to be very hysterical. "He…he….shot…the policeman…But I took the gun and…I killed him"

Thran took a quick look around, "Jeanie?"

Miranda gasped. "I…I think…the room at the end of the corridor…I heard something odd and…screamed and Brian came and then this …man came and shot Brian and…I had to defend us"

Bard walked slowly towards her, he took the gun carefully. It was Brian's service gun, she had to have snatched it when he fell. "You were very brave Miranda. "

Thran took off to the room Miranda mentioned and he stopped in the doorway, the sight was just horrible. Jeanie was most definitely dead, her head completely smashed by a marble rolling pin and her arms and legs cut as if she was a pig hanging at a butchers shop. He groaned and turned around, this was just too horrible but the culprit was dead. The SWAT leader called to let the others know it was alright and Miranda was embracing Adelyn, both girls were shaking. Thran was kneeling down. "You did well Miranda, you saved both yourself and Adelyn"

Miranda sniffed. "We are best friends now, forever. "

Adelyn was just sobbing and Thran took her hand. "Listen, you are alright, you are safe. We will take you to hospital just to make sure that you are okay, then you can go home. It is over now"

Adelyn just blinked. "I slept, he killed…he killed Jeanie and I just slept, I was so tired. "

Miranda did stroke her hair. "It is alright dear, you needed it. I am just glad I didn't fall asleep and heard someone running along the corridor"

Thran did get a text from Thor, the parents were stopped but would meet the girls at the hospital after they were interrogated and somebody were taking the lads parents aside. Thran didn't envy the poor bastards.

The SWAT leader went over to the dead man and pulled the ski mask off him, he was young and rather feminine looking with short stubble and a scar across his cheek and Bard let out a sigh of relief. "Check for ID"

The man had a filthy wallet in his pocket and the soldier did pull out an ID card. "Steven Bridle, age 22. A local lad I think"

Thran did nod. "He was gonna kill the girls for sure. Check the 22' for fingerprints just to be safe, but I bet they are his. What a monster"

Miranda was sobbing and appeared to be very distraught. "I shot him…I shot him"

Thran nodded. "You did what you had to do to save yourself and your friend. "

Miranda hid her face in her hands. "He…he had killed Jeanie, did…did he shoot everybody downstairs too?"

Bard nodded and she let out a wail. The SWAT leader did help the girls get up and started to escort them downstairs. Bard did stare at the dead young man, he didn't look like a monster, as a matter of fact he did look like a normal young man, rather poorly clad though and he had some scars in his wrists which did indicate a history of self harm. Bard did pat him down and stopped, there was something hard in his sock and he did pull up the torn jeans and found a small cell phone, hidden in his sock. It was the very cheap disposable type and he showed it to Thran. "Bag it, we will check it later on"

Thran picked up the phone and called Judith. "We got him, one of the girls managed to shoot the bastard. It is over"

Judith could be heard letting out a whoop of relief. "Thank goodness. How are the girls doing?"

Thran swallowed. "He got Jeanie, I am sorry. The lad too. But Miranda and Adelyn are alright, just in shock."

Judith swore. "Goddamn it, but it is good he is dead. Listen, I got the final list from the hospital, they did also miss some strong sleeping pills, but only a few so it could be that some nurse had done an error counting"

Thran nodded. "Alright, we will report to Thor and then we'll get to the hospital and finish the interrogation of the girl. You have a job ahead of you though, Jeanie's head…is no more"

Judith was sighing. "As long as the bastard is caught I will do my job as best as I can."

They went downstairs, the SWAT team was sealing off the property and Thran did take a swift look at the dead officer laying in the door, he shook his head and there was real grief in his eyes. "I knew this guy, he had a wife and a three year old daughter and another on the way. "

Bard felt empty, like a balloon someone had taken a pin to. "I know"

They drove towards the HQ again and Thran did stare off into the distance, his eyes were cold and he made some grimaces. Bard was driving so he had to keep his eyes on the road. "What is it? You act like a cat with an itch"

Thran shrugged. "I don't know…I just…something feels off. It ended too well, too easily"

Bard smiled. "You are just too tense, relax love, it is over, the bad guy is toast and at least two survived."

Thran tried to smile back, it became a sort of stiff grin.

The headquarter was a chaotic place when they did arrive, there were journalists almost barricading the doors and Thor looked like a thundercloud. He nodded at them. "There you are, this is one goddamn situation, the reporters are like leeches. I will personally flay whoever leaks the names of the two surviving girls to the press, they will be all over them like vultures"

He did pat both investigators on their shoulders. "I am glad it is over, too bad the crook is dead but we cannot have everything we wish for now can we?"

Thran nodded and they went onto their office to get rid of the bullet proof wests, Thran did look a bit thoughtful still and Bard didn't push it. He too felt oddly torn, this case had been hellish. Thran picked up the cell phone they had found on the dead villain and he stared at it, then he did push the on button and it did come to life. He did enter the text messages and frowned. "Bard? Take a look at this?"

Bard took the phone, he did stare at it. "Ah…"

Thran did read it out loud. "I got the address, have the stash ready. Will be there in twenty"

He did continue. "Enter the backdoor, go right up. Throw this phone away"

Bard blinked. "What?"

Thran appeared to become a bit frantic. "Remember what the candy salesman said? Young pretty guy, with a scar and stubble. But he wore a very nice expensive tracksuit. Steven was wearing old worn out clothes. Check his file, hurry"

Bard turned on the computer and typed in the name, they did almost collide when they bent over to read. "He is a drug addict, but no violence recorded, a nobody. No known address."

Bard frowned. "He is a homeless person? Then how.."

Thran took a deep breath. "How could he follow so many blogs? He cannot have a computer, junkies use their money for drugs, not for internet time at some café. "

Bard swallowed. "The person the candy salesman saw wasn't Steven?"

Thran nodded. "No, and I have been an idiot, no, I have been blind. This isn't about hatred, it is about love. Sick twisted love. It was a girl, dressed up to look like Steven except for the fact that he don't own such fancy clothes, it was camouflage for later, it was all planned, even this last stage. I bet she talked Rosa into partaking in a photo shoot and Rosa was probably smart enough to hide the memory card when she realized that it was the end of her."

He grasped his coat. "We have to get to the hospital. Adelyn is in mortal danger. We just sent her from the ashes into the fire"

Bard blinked. "Ah what on earth are you talking about?"

Thranduil sneered. "The hospital had school kids visiting? Junior high most likely. And I am willing to bet a month's salary that it was the school these kids go to. Remember the blog Adelyn wrote and the comments Erestor showed us? We are gonna be best friends, forever? What did she just say to Adelyn? Just that!"

Bard nodded and put on his coat as they ran out the door. "The culprit is in love with Adelyn, and want's to rid her of any competition. "

Bard just gaped. "Ha?"

Thran almost laughed, a hollow sad laugher. "Greekpoet remember? Which greek poet is most well known?"

Bard shrugged as they entered the garage " Beats me?

"

Thran opened the car door. "Sappho of course, Sappho of Lesbos!"

Bard gaped and felt how the world suddenly turned itself upside down. "Shit!"

Thran nodded and let the car race out of the garage like it had a rocket strapped to its roof. "Huge shit yeah, elephant shit. We have looked at it the wrong way the whole time."

Bard still couldn't believe it. "But…a girl?!"

Thran nodded. "Yeah, she is rare, so very rare. But be aware, female psychopaths are more dangerous than their male counterparts. They are way more vicious and know how to imitate feelings perfectly. But they feel nothing, except a need to control others, often by using very sick methods"

Bard leaned back against the seat. "Yeah, sick! I do not doubt that, not even for a second"

Thran was pale. "I ought to have smelled something rotten, she was too eager to help, too charming, too likeable. I have seen cases like that before but it is usually pyromaniacs who tend to involve themselves in their own investigation, just to get a kick out of it. Psychopaths usually are like that, they fly under the radar completely. They know just what to say. She sent us off in the wrong direction several times, and got all the information she needed while doing it. I bet she was having the time of her life, manipulating us."

He shifted gears. "She knew about Emmelina's parents, that her dad was at home when they were killed, she knew when they died Bard. If it had happened that very morning it would be normal to assume that he was off to work. She asked us directly about the dad and the dog remember?"

Bard nodded. "A slip of the tongue"

Thran sent him a narrow grin. "The messages, all made to look as if it was an illiterate hateful person, someone like Steven, poor and a looser. She probably chose him early on and manipulated him masterly, playing him like an instrument. She was so very clever, and I bet she has read all there is to read about criminal forensics. She has been one step ahead of us the whole time. The text messages were just to make sure that she ended up in the safe house with Adelyn, and Jeanie. We served her the last victims on a silver platter Bard"

They drove like they had the devil and his entire entourage at their heels, they came to a screeching halt in front of the hospital door and ran inside, car still running. Thran was waving his badge. "The two girls who just were brought in, where are they? They are in danger"

The lady behind the reception desk looked at the two armed men with wide eyes but managed to squeak. "Fourth floor, room 19. The doctors were there just minutes ago and they are fine?"

Thran started running towards the stairs. "Not for long!"

Bard followed, he knew that the elevators were slow, it was faster to take the stairs and the two men ran up making new personal records each. They entered the corridor and Thran stopped, he stared at the room numbers. 19 was at the end of the corridor and they suddenly heard a muffled scream. Bard swore and pulled his gun and Thran did the same. They kicked the door open and saw a scene straight from a horror movie. Adelyn was on the bed, strapped down like a crazy person but she had gotten one arm free and was trying to stop Miranda from stabbing her in the neck with a syringe. She had a roll of bandage wrapped around her head and it was pulled down to use as a gag but she had managed to pull it out of the way.

Miranda was red in the face and she did look like a fury there and then, her movements oddly mechanical and she was snarling like a wolverine in a foot trap. Bard didn't hesitate. He didn't even have to take aim, he just fired the gun and Miranda fell backwards with a godawful howl. She clenched her hand which had a nice hole in it and the syringe fell to the floor. It was full of something yellow and Thran grasped a pair of gloves from the dispenser at the door and his grin was not nice. "You were gonna inject this into her artery right? Her own urin mixed with air, you truly are devious you little minx"

Adelyn was trembling. "I thought…I thought she saved me…Oh God, the things she said…"

Bard did handcuff the spitting and hissing girl, she was surprisingly strong but he didn't mind using some extensive force this time. Some bruises were just what she did deserve. Miranda howled. "You have to love me, I made it so! I removed them all, all the idiots who tried to hold you back. You should be grateful"

She tried to wrestle herself free from Bards grip and her teeth were bared. Sheer madness shone in her eyes. Thran did smile, a very cold grin. "Know what sweetie? No more blogs for you, just a very nice white shirt with very long sleeves and a room with very soft walls. I am rather sure that the judge would prefer to put old sparky back into use but that isn't the way it is done here, beside, I think even the devil deserve better than having to deal with you. "

He removed the straps from Adelyn's arm and legs and the girl was sobbing hysterically. "She wanted me to be her girlfriend, to do whatever she told me to do. She is sick"

Thran nodded. "Yes, a born beast. Don't worry Adelyn. She is going away and she will never come back"

He turned to Miranda. "You did befriend them all didn't you? The sweet somewhat shy girl who couldn't do anything wrong. You learned their routines, took advantage of the fact that you were seemingly harmless."

She spat but didn't reach him. "They are so fucking gullible, yeah, I offed some looser so what? I could have given her everything!"

The last words were a howl and Thran sighed, he shook his head. "I won't do the analysis of this one, no way. I don't even think there is a diagnosis for this"

Miranda tried to bite Bard in the arm and Thran did backhand her across the face. She just gaped, the shock in her face very obvious. "I will give you one advice you little bitch, behave, or I will make sure that your next address will be an asylum where the guards enjoy playing with their patients, and not in a cuddly child friendly manner. There are places like that still, and I know them all"

His voice was low and menacing and he was staring at her with an expression on his face which could have frozen the pacific rock solid. Miranda backed off a few inches, then she tried to smile seductively and she was almost purring. She obviously thought that she could seduce him somehow but it was rather stupid of her.

Thran rolled his eyes, completely and utterly disturbed, no other words could describe that sort of reaction.

Two policemen came running into the room and Bard nodded at them with a narrow grin. "Here guys, arrest her for the murders we have been investigating. And the deaths of two policemen. She shot officer Brian and then she shot the kid she had tricked into coming there, believing that she had drugs to sell. This is the devils little sister, she drugged Adelyn to make her sleep through it, only to wake her up in the middle of the whole drama. So it would seem real "

The two men stared, then their eyes got hard and they manhandled her rather brutally as they hauled her off. Adelyn was sobbing still and she did look as if she didn't really believe what she had just witnessed. "She…killed all those people? Because of me?"

Thran took her hand gently. "Yes, but do not feel guilty, it wasn't your fault."

Adelyn shivered visibly. "Oh Jesus, I should have played along, said that I did love her back or something, just until I could raise the alarm. But I didn't know…"

Thran smiled. "Neither did we, and we are experts. Rest now, your parents are coming, it is gonna be alright. Trust me"

She tried to smile back and did look very young and very vulnerable there and then. This would probably haunt her for the rest of her life.

They waited until a nurse came, then they walked down again, Thran did look very tired and Bard threw an arm around his shoulders. "She really was gonna kill Adelyn"

Thran nodded. "Aye, that is one intelligent and cunning killer. I cannot even comprehend what her mind is like but it is most likely completely ruined. I bet she saw some serious shit as a kid and that stayed there and festered. When Adelyn did reject her she snapped, she cannot deal with rejection at all probably. That is why she killed them all, they rejected her when she tried to befriend them. She probably tried to frighten them away from blogging at first, then she switched her tactics and went on the rampage. She is very dangerous, thinks that everybody owes her respect and love"

Bard shuddered. "No shit Sherlock."

They returned to the station just as Thor got the news, he was pale. "Are you feckin' serious? It was the girl? A girl did all that…horror?"

Thran sat down like a sack of potatoes. "Yes, I was a fool not to see it, but creatures like that are so very rare. It wasn't about money or revenge or anything, it was an attempt at wooing somebody, from someone without the ability to feel empathy. I guess I have learned something new. Although I would have preferred to have it unlearned."

Thor just nodded and sat down. "Well unless there are more psychos hidden somewhere you can take the rest of the day off, and the rest of the week too. You deserve it"

Thran and Bard just stared at each other, both did look worn down and felt like wet rags. "Thank you boss, from the bottom of our hearts. For once we do indeed need some days off."

Thor waved his hand nonchalantly. "By all means, you are just flesh and bone after all and this has been some godawful days. Go now, I will take it from here. "

Thran did hold Bards hand as they walked to the garage again. "Promise me that you don't mention this case back home?"

Bard nodded. "I swear, I don't want the girls to have night mares."

Thran managed to smile. "I know, it is the same with Legolas. He is fragile. So, not a word?"

Bard did fist bump him. "Not a single word"

Two weeks later they were back at work. Bard had caught a cold and so they took some extra time off. The investigation was over, Miranda had sent messages to herself to throw everybody off track, she had really been very clever. But Judith had discovered that officer Thomas had been shot from the back and so had Brian. Adelyn had been drugged as she killed Jeanie and the policemen, and Miranda had probably even copied the key to the stable doors. It was the work of a cold brain and it was all due to an obsession with one person. She was charged and found guilty on several charges of murder and abuse and the jury did only use five minutes to reach their verdict.

Miranda was transferred to a max security prison, she was held in isolation for the first two years and since she was given a sentence of four hundred and fifty years without any chance of parole she would never see the light of day again.

She didn't last that long though, everybody knew that she was an evil minded sick individual and even the guards were afraid of her. So when there was a fight in the cantina and Miranda tried to strangle another woman who happened to stand before her in the dinner queue the guard did use his tazer on her. Unfortunately Miranda had a hidden heart failure and so she did die there, not in old sparky but she did end up getting fried after all and maybe there was some justice in the end. But as Thran said it when he heard of the death, he didn't think even the devil would welcome that creature among his demons, she would probably try to create her own little private hell. But as long as it wasn't here on earth nobody did mourn her for even a second. Her adoptive parents had been oblivious to what they had kept under their roofs and they both needed therapy and they weren't the only ones. Thran said that she was one in a billion and Bard did agree, it was one case which would stay with them for the rest of their lives and it did indeed tell them to listen to their guts, instead of what common sense did dictate.


End file.
